Tigers continue soccer success

Tigers continue soccer success

News

By: Jay Gutteridge

The Holy Trinity High School Tigers junior and senior boys soccer teams proved their dominance of the Georgian Bay Secondary School Association AA division, sweeping the finals in Bracebridge.

The seniors advance to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championships in May and the juniors finish their season as champions for the fifth straight year.

“There’s lots of soccer talent coming out of Bradford,” Andrew Burke, one of the junior team’s coaches, said. “The Bradford soccer organization must be doing something really well.”

Senior team coach Denny De Oliveira echoed the praise for the Bradford Soccer Club.

The Holy Trinity juniors’ toughest test in the playoffs came the week before the finals, when they defeated Tottenham’s St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School 5-3 in their quarterfinal in Bradford.

In Bracebridge, the junior Tigers easily defeated Bracebridge and Muskoka Lakes Secondary School 7-0 in the semifinal and Elmvale District High School 8-1 in the final.

The Georgian Bay championships were easy for the team because it is used to playing against — and beating — much larger schools, team member Matt Dias said.

“We play (against) our level, that’s why the league, for us, is a lot tougher,” he said, referencing the fact that Holy Trinity plays in the AA division at the championships, while it plays several AAA and AAAA teams in the regular season.

The divisions are based on the population of the schools, with AAAA being the largest schools.

Even though the Holy Trinity juniors face tougher competition much of the time, they have put together a remarkable winning streak.

The team hasn’t lost since its first regular season game five years ago.

“We tell our boys every year what that stat is and they work hard to try to maintain that,” Mr. Burke said.

The senior Tigers don’t dominate the way the juniors do, but they also have more on the line.

But there is still more work to do, senior team member Peter De Faria said, referring to tougher competition at the senior level.

“You want to make (the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championships), so you work that much harder.”

Holy Trinity didn’t qualify for the provincial championships last season, but it has many times in the past.

The school’s best finish at the tournament is fourth.

Like the juniors, the senior Tigers played their Georgian Bay quarterfinal at home the week before heading to Bracebridge. They beat Elmvale District High School 3-1.

In the semifinal, Holy Trinity beat Orillia’s Patrick Fogarty Catholic Secondary School of Orillia 3-0.

The Tigers faced Bracebridge and Muskoka Lakes in the final, winning 2-0.

As for the Ontario championships, while player Nick Gutta boldly proclaimed the team is going to win, the coach, who has been there before, made a safer prediction.

“Just do well. Be a team. Whatever they set as a standard, they can achieve,” Mr. De Oliveira said. “If they gel and work hard, they can finish in the top six.”

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