HUMBER WINS OCAA MEN'S RUGBY TITLE

The Humber Hawks (Etobicoke) captured their first provincial title in men’s rugby with an exciting 30-13 victory over the Seneca Sting (North York) on Saturday afternoon at the 2007 Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) Men’s Rugby Championship. The game was featured in part of the OCAA/OUA Rugby Championship Celebration presented by Rugby Canada. Prior to the provincial title match, the Fleming Knights (Peterborough) defeated the Mohawk Mountaineers (Hamilton) 22-18 in overtime to win the OCAA bronze medal.

In the gold medal game, the pair of Greater Toronto Area (GTA) rivals battled hard for the full eighty minutes but it was the Humber Hawks who came out on top after the referee’s final whistle on a beautiful fall afternoon at Fletcher’s Fields in Markham.

The score was even going into the break as Seneca’s Dave Prentice (Wroxeter, ON) scored on the first half’s final play, locking the teams up at thirteen points a piece.

The Humber Hawks were dominant in the second half as they managed to score 17 unanswered points, lifting them to the gold medal victory. Humber’s Andre Rose-Green (Tottenham, ON) opened up the scoring in the half as he broke through Seneca’s defensive wall, putting the Hawks in front by five.

At the 54 minute mark, Rose-Green was at it once again as he made an athletic interception on a Seneca kick. Humber then swung it around to the 2007 OCAA Scoring Champion, Adam Chianello (Woodbridge, ON), who took it from midfield to score his second try of the match. Two minutes later, Chianello recorded the hat-trick as he received a nice pass from Evan Booth (Niagara Falls, ON) and ran it in for the third time of the day.

Seneca continued to fight hard trying to get back in the match but it just wasn’t enough as the Hawks went storming onto the field in celebration as the referee called for full time.

“Simply amazing,” stated Humber head coach Carey French. “I cannot describe the feeling of winning the championship. Everyone involved with the program has worked so hard for this.”

French and Alistair Mathieson formed Humber’s Rugby program six years ago. The championship win today marks the college’s first provincial title in men’s rugby. Chianello was named man of the match for his 21 point performance (3 tries, 2 penalty kicks).

Seneca was undefeated heading into the match with a 9-0 league record. In their only meeting during the regular season, Seneca went on to beat Humber 6-5, Humber’s only loss of the year.

As the championship title game kicked off, the Mohawk Mountaineers (Hamilton) and Fleming Knights (Peterborough) were heading into overtime of the bronze medal match with the two teams tied at 15 points apiece.

After the Knights and Mountaineers traded scores in their opening drives, Fleming took a ten point lead after tries from Chad Carl (Millbrook, ON) and Jordan Wooldridge (Peterborough, ON), taking control of the game heading into the second half.

The defending OCAA champion Mountaineers managed to regroup after the break as Josh Jones (Burlington, ON) scored on a dash down the right sideline to cut the deficit to five. Following a beautifully placed kick from James Cumpson (Stoney Creek, ON), the Mountaineers Keith Garbutt (Stoney Creek, ON) crashed over the line to tie the count at 15.

With the score knotted up, the teams headed to a ten minute overtime period. Cumpson gave Mohawk an 18-15 lead with a penalty goal from a little more than 12 yards out. With their backs against the wall and with time running down, Fleming marched down the field and fourth year veteran Eric Abbott (Orillia, ON) managed to extend the ball past the goal line, giving the Knights the lead for good. The bronze medal marks Fleming’s ninth medal at the OCAA Rugby Championships, as they remain in a tie with Seneca in the all-time medal count. Steve Basel (Peterborough, ON) was recognized as the Man of the Match.

Fleming head coach Rick Nydam described the game as a tale of two half’s, with Fleming coming out firing on all cylinders in the first and Mohawk coming back to dominate the second. It took falling behind in overtime to finally give Fleming the urgency needed to capture the bronze.

The OCAA and OUA gold medal matches will be aired across the Rogers Television network on Saturday night starting at 8:00pm.

CHAMPIONSHIP SUMMARY

Gold Medal Game
Humber defeated Seneca 30-13
Man of the Match – Adam Chianello, Humber

Bronze Medal Game
Fleming defeated Mohawk 22-18 (OT)
Man of the Match – Steve Basel, Fleming

Final Results
Gold – Humber Hawks
Silver – Seneca Sting
Bronze – Fleming Knights


The OCAA also announced the 2007 OCAA Rugby Major Award Winners and League All-Stars at the Championship banquet following the conclusion of the gold medal game.

League Top Scorer
Adam Chianello – Humber (101 points)

Coach of the Year
Rick Nydam – Fleming (Peterborough)

League All-Stars
Jake VanDyke - Conestoga
Matt Jolie - Conestoga
Shawn Rayton - Fleming (Lindsay)
Jesse Rolland - Fleming (Lindsay)
Josh Andrew - Fleming (Peterborough)
Steve Basel - Fleming (Peterborough)
Brandon Welch - George Brown
Lucas Carmona - George Brown
Sean Swietlinski - Georgian
Doug Litt - Georgian
Adam Chianello - Humber
Curtis Balance - Humber
Matt Kearney - Loyalist
Mike Penney - Loyalist
James Cumpson - Mohawk
Tyler Struyk - Mohawk
Dave Prentice - Seneca
Adam Handscomb - Seneca

The OCAA governs intercollegiate sports and promotes physical activity in its member institutions through quality athletic and campus recreation programs. It offers 15 varsity sports to 30 member institutions throughout Ontario. For more information on the OCAA visit www.ocaa.com.