The Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations A/AA rugby championships do not take place until early next month in Sarnia.
But the defending champion Stouffville District Secondary School Spartans might be considered as strong contenders to retain the crown.
The Spartans got a good indication of the calibre they might encounter at this year’s championships while winning their first-ever Red Hot Tournament title Sunday. It was climaxed with a 12-7 win over Saltfleet Secondary School in the Laurier Division final on the St. Joan of Arc Catholic High School synthetic pitch in Maple.
“This tournament has the best of the best,” Spartans head coach Jamie Hewitt said. “There were 120 different schools that took part in this tournament and you had the top AA and AAAA teams playing.
“Our guys were focused for this tournament. One of their goals at the start of the year was to win this tournament because it’s so big ... We were challenged and tested.”
National team member Matt Raguseo accounted for all of the Spartans’ scoring in the final, with two tries and a convert, and was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
“He was unbelievable,” Hewitt said of Raguseo, a Grade 12 student and last year’s senior male athlete of the year at Stouffville.
To reach the final, the Spartans had to defeat Uxbridge Secondary School 17-5 earlier Sunday in their semifinal match.
Raguseo had two tries and a convert for the Spartans and Kyle Miller added one try.
“The kids played fantastic,” Hewitt said. “Their defence was unbelievable and ball retention was good. They understand how the game is to be played.”
The Spartans took part in a regional qualifier last Thursday in Waterloo and won their pool by defeating Oakville Trafalgar 7-5, Bluevale Collegiate (Waterloo) 29-0 and 13-time defending Red Hot Tournament and last year’s OFSAA AAAA champion Barrie Central Collegiate 3-0.
A penalty kick by Raguseo with 30 seconds remaining in regulation time proved to be the difference for Stouffville.
The victory by the Spartans atoned for their 20-12 loss to Lindsay Collegiate in the final of the eighth annual Spartan Invitational Tournament played on the school’s old pitch this month.
Juniors take two tourneys
The senior Spartans victory came on the heels of a 33-26 win by the junior Spartans over the Alexander Mackenzie High School Mustangs (Richmond Hill) in Saturday’s Queen’s Division final of the Red Hot.
David Amy, Jeremy Brownridge, Scott Miller, Max Muir and Atieq Wasim each scored a try for the Spartans. Oliver Boettcher booted four converts and was named the tournament’s MVP.
“We didn’t play overly well,” Spartans coach Rob Edmondson said. “We made some physical and mental mistakes. We were fortunate to win. It was one of those games where we made one less mistake than they did. We’re happy to win, but not proud of how we played in the final. Whenever you get a lot of scoring in rugby, there’s a lot of mistakes that are taking place.”
“We’ve got some work ahead of us to do. But we are getting better slowly,” he said.
To reach the final, the Spartans defeated Trenton High School 13-5 earlier in the day.
Chris Chekay scored the lone try for the Spartans and Boettcher booted a penalty kick and convert.
In that match, Edmondson felt his charges played a far better game than in the final.
To qualifying for Saturday’s playoffs, the Spartans travelled to Kingston Wednesday and won their qualifier after posting victories over Ashbury College (Ottawa) 14-5, Ajax High School 38-0 and Kingston Collegiate 22-0.
The juniors also won their own tourney, capped off with a 24-12 win over I.E. Weldon (Lindsay) in the final.
The Spartans resume York Region Athletic Association play today at Huron Heights (Newmarket) starting at 3 p.m.
The seniors, bantams and juniors will all see action.