Last month, as the NBA playoffs were wrapping up, this space was used to acknowledge some of the top local secondary school basketball teams from the past season. Space at that time didn’t permit mention of some younger players. So we’ll rectify that omission now with a review of top teams from elementary school playoffs…
Credit first goes to some enthusiastic and talented bantam (born 2000-01) boys’ teams.
Mike Ireland was the coordinator for the large schools’ league and subsequent playoffs and he sends word that Hammond Bay Elementary was the eventual winner of the district title. John Linder was the coach for the championship team, Kathy Grabher the manager and Carson Williams the sponsor. Players representing their school were Matthew Brown, Ian Grabher, Joel Bilyk, Ben Etando, Liam Paradis, Kurt Schrabbleger, Brayden Schluler, Nathan Allen, Kai Kleave, Jack Odgers, Jack Harrison, Jessie Williams and Thomas Fridrikkson.
Runners-up were the boys from Rock City Elementary. On the roster were Cole Arsenault, Theo Christianson, Dakota Cullum, Cameron Holman, Cody MacArthur, Nate Seaman, Josh Silvey, Ryan Waatainen, Tyler Young, Tristin Ehrismann and Drew Johnson. Coach for the boys was Darren Seaman, with Jane Hepples the team sponsor.
Third place went to the squad from Rutherford. Players were Owen Bray, Dylan Brock, Marcus Craig, Devon Evensen, Kyle Giroux, Christien Harris, Ethan Hart, Ethan Jones, Keifer Lufeudo, Eoin Murphy and Alex Thiessen. Rick Hart was the Rutherford coach and Collen Lycan the sponsor.
Finishing fourth in the playoffs was the team from McGirr.
Alana Lavery was the coordinator for the bantam boys’ basketball league for teams from smaller schools in the district. Post-season playoffs ended with a championship title earned by the team from Cilaire Elementary. Coaching the squad was Yvan St. Onge, the sponsor was Darren Dickie and players on the winning team were Owen Morrison, Jonathan Kantor, Nik Silinis, Wyatt McKay, Adam Harper, Anthony Olynyk, Jacob Houtman, Liam Moody, Josh Duifhuis, Nathaniel Morley, Eric Labas and Evan Anderson.
In second place came the entry from Bayview, where team sponsor was Diane McGonigle and coaches were Jordan and Gary Gladstone. On the court were Bayview players Alex Tom, Allen Wyse, Ashiel Marshall, Caleb Louis, Corey Hanuse, Dakota Louis, Daniel Eck, Donovan Mitchell, Edward Wyse-Good, James Wyse, Jayden Thomas, Logan Manson, Lucky Nguyen, Quinn Balicki, Tyson Seward and Scottie Fraser-Sampson.
Third in the district playoff were the boys representing Frank J. Ney Elementary. Kevin Hooper coached players Josh Taylor, Kaleb Kotai, Calvin Marshall, Tyler Ponsford, Sam Holman, Fisher Zawasky, Parker Davie, Ryan Paproski and Henry Waatainen.
Finishing fourth was Davis Road, coached by Doug English.
Next week we’ll catch up on girls’ results.
Whatever your sport, a reminder in closing to play your hardest, play fair, and show good sportsmanship.
