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 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.
