SHSAA PROVINCIAL 9-MAN FOOTBALL
The Shaunavon Shadows football team played Saturday in the SHSAA 9-Man Provincial Football Final in Lumsden. Both finalist teams came out of the same regular season conference. They won their way, from opposite sides of the draw, to meet up in the provincial final. Lumsden was the only team who had beaten Shaunavon in the regular season, and the Shadows wanted to change the outcome when they met up in the championship game.
But, it wasn’t meant to be on this day. The teams traded early touchdowns, then Lumsden shut down the Shadow offense and consistently added to their own score. The final score was 38-14 for Lumsden. The Shaunavon team brought home silver medals, not the color they wanted, but what an amazing season they had. Being second in the province is quite an accomplishment.
SENIOR VOLLEYBALL LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Placings for the playoff were determined by league standings at the end of season play. The #1 seed, SCCHS, beat #4 Cabri in one semi-final, and #3 Frontier beat #2 Shaunavon in the other semi-final. Shaunavon and Cabri played in the third place game, with Cabri coming out on top.
Last year, Frontier defeated SCCHS gr 9/10 on this home court to take the championship. This year, SCCHS defeated Frontier in the final to claim the title on home court. Congratulations to the Colts. Thanks to all the teams for taking part in the league this year.
SHSAA SENIOR VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
SWAC had five teams that qualified for the SHSAA regional tournaments. 1A Frontier girls were in Bengough, but did not advance out of pool play (losses to Ogema and Bengough).
1A Fox Valley was at the same regional and had wins over Rouleau and Coronach to finish first in their pool. The Legends played Bengough in the semi-final crossover and lost in two competitive sets to be eliminated from the tournament.
3A Maple Creek girls were at the Lanigan regional tournament and that regional would qualify three teams to the provincial championship. The Rebels finished second in their pool (loss to Unity and a win over Watson). They lost to eventual champion, Lanigan, in the semi-final. That put them in the ‘last chance qualifier’ game against Maidstone. It was an exciting match, with Maple Creek gutting out a 2-1 win. They are off to Provincials in Indian Head this upcoming weekend.
5A SCCHS Ardens went through their regional in Weyburn undefeated. They had wins over Yorkton Regional, Weyburn, Balgonie and Estevan as they cruised to the Regional championship. The Ardens didn’t drop a set all weekend. The provincial championship takes place in Prince Albert on November 17-18.
The 5A Colts also won their south region tournament, which they hosted at SCCHS. The Colts only lost one set all weekend on their way to an undefeated record to claim the regional title. Swift Current had wins over Yorkton Regional, Weyburn, Balgonie and Estevan. Their provincial championship is also in Prince Albert on the same weekend as the Ardens.
All of our boys volleyball teams were at SHSAA conference tournaments, top two teams at each conference advance to SHSAA regionals on November 18.
1A Herbert hosted three other teams (one of which was Fox Valley). Fox Valley went undefeated (win over Herbert, Kyle and Marengo) to advance to regionals. Herbert did not advance with their 1-2 record. The Laurels team has a win over Kyle and losses to Fox Valley and Marengo (this match went three sets).
1A Frontier was in Mankota playing against South Central teams. The Raiders will advance to regionals by finishing in second place. They had wins over Mossbank and Mankota. Their only loss was to Lafleche (15-13 in third set).
2A Leader hosted a conference tournament, but did not advance (losses to Eston, Lucky Lake, LCBI and Dinsmore).
2A Ponteix was in Gravelbourg, along with Cabri. Cabri didn’t advance (1-2 record). They had a loss to Ponteix and Kincaid, but notched a win over Gravelbourg. Ponteix finished second and will advance and host regionals. They won over Cabri and Gravelbourg, but lost to Kincaid in three sets (15-13 in the final set).
3A Conference host Shaunavon advanced to regionals in dramatic fashion. In the round robin format, they had a loss to eventual champion Assiniboia, and wins over Notre Dame and Briercrest Christian Academy. The match against Briercrest decided who would advance. It went three sets and was played in front of boisterous fans for both teams. The Shadows were down by a very large margin early in the first set, even though they lost the first set, the team rallied to make it close (22-25). They won the second set 26-24, then carried that momentum into the third set and won easily.
PROVINCIAL VOLLEYBALL HOST
Ponteix was awarded the 2A boys provincial championship for 2023. They will use Ponteix gym and Pambrun gym for the event on November 24 and 25. Come out and watch the top teams in the province battle for SHSAA provincial gold.
WINTER SPORTS
Curling start date was November 6. Schools have coaches lined up and practices are underway in some schools.
Basketball/Wrestling start date is November 20. Schools will be deciding if they are entering SWAC leagues (junior and senior).
SWAC SPORTS is offering exhibition half court 3 vs 3 basketball this year (junior and senior). This is a SWAC initiative to develop basketball in some of our smaller schools. Games would only be played on weekdays and travel distances will be limited. Hopefully, there is enough interest in geographical pockets to make this activity possible.
The Chinook School Division Sports Report is submitted by Val Gordon
