Last-Second Invite Yields An OFSAA Silver Medal For Holy Cross Girls' Rugby

The returning-champion A/AA Holy Cross Hurricanes almost successfully defended their title with a last-second invite and earned a silver medal at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) Girls Rugby Championships on Wednesday.

Front row (left to right): Audrey McDonald, Audrey stone, Logan jolley, Jenna whynot, Katie Belk, Emma Belk, Olivia gaebel, Jordyn Scott, Macy Harper, Shannon Elliott

Back row (left to right): Jake Fowler, Marielle Collins, Mariah Maybee, Charley Wade, Kassidy buott, Iza Buott, Payton cough, Jordan bankes, Riley Stone, Sophie McLean, ruby Briand, kyrsten white, Chloe ward, alara Rourke, Brian Greer, Chris Paige Photo courtesy of Holy Cross Secondary School.

The Hurricanes originally were not qualified for OFSAA after suffering a defeat at the hands of the Cobourg’s St. Mary Thunder in the Central Ontario Secondary Schools Association (COSSA) championships, 7-5. The team received an invite from OFSAA organizers last Thursday after a last-second vacancy was made.

Holy Cross took another loss from them again in the OFSAA finals, 14-5 at Mary Ann Sills Park in Belleville in a three-day event from Monday to Wednesday.

Head coach Jake Fowler said that he’s proud of the drive, determination and team’s character which resulted in second place, considering the short window of opportunity to prepare for OFSAA.

“It speaks tremendously to the girls and their hearts and the pride they take in our program,” he explained. “Many of them were members of the gold-medal team last year so they went back to their experience and that was what propelled them.”

Holy Cross opened their day with a 60-7 rout of Toronto’s Ursula Franklin Academy Flames on day one to advance them into the quarterfinals.

They continued their run, playing their first of two games on the second day. Holy Cross advanced to the semifinals, defeating the Cairine Wilson Secondary School Wildcats out of Orleans in a close 15-12 win.

The Hurricanes kept their winning streak going with a tight win over Shelburne’s Centre Dufferin District High School Royals, 14-12. That win gave them the rematch against St. Mary’s, resulting in a loss.

“It's been quite a season,” said Fowler. “To go from not getting an invite to pulling it off just speaks to the group of girls.”

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Buckhorn's Kal Sager Selected for Canadian Men’s Sevens Rugby Team

Kal Sager has been selected for the Canada Men's Sevens Team for the start of the 2023 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Hong Kong, announced Friday.

Photo courtesy of the Peterborough Rugby Club.

Originally from Buckhorn, Sager started playing rugby at Thomas A. Stewart High School where he was part of the winning team for the AAA boys OFSAA in 2019. He went on to join the Peterborough Rugby Club where he played on U16, U18 and senior men’s teams before moving on to play at Trent University.

Sager joins the team from Rugby Canada’s Pacific Pride program, having competed with the B.C. Men’s 7s team at the Rugby Town 7s competition in Denver last August.

This tournament welcomes the 16 best men’s sevens teams in the world and Sager is the only new player to be selected for the team.

Canada is scheduled to face Argentina, Ireland and Kenya in this tournament from Nov. 4 to 6. Canada's first game against Argentina kicks off at 4:04 a.m. EST on Friday.

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Trent University Hires Eric Noyes As New Men's Rugby Head Coach

Trent University has hired Eric Noyes as its new Excalibur men’s rugby head coach for the 2022-23 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) season announced on Monday.

Eric Noyes has a background in teaching. He has had roles with the Toronto Arrows (Elite Junior Academy Development Coach) and Oshawa Vikings RFC (U16 Women’s Head coach). Photo courtesy of Trent University.

“With his experience and successful background, Coach Eric Noyes is a great addition to our Excalibur men’s rugby program,” said Deborah Bright-Brundle, Trent director of Athletics and Recreation. “His knowledge and experience in the different levels of rugby development only adds to the competitive program we have built over the years, and we look forward to seeing the continued growth of our Excalibur rugby team under his leadership.

Noyes spent the last three years as the assistant coach of the Durham Lords men’s rugby team. He led the Lords to back-to-back Ontario Colleges Athletic Association championships in 2018 and 2019, adding a bronze medal in 2021.

“I’m excited to continue developing the professionalism of our program at Trent,” said Noyes. “I feel it is incredibly important to position the rugby program in such a way that current student-athletes treat the program with a professional attitude, and for new players, to understand that by choosing Trent, they’ll be choosing a program that takes their development seriously.”

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Trent University Excalibur Hires New Rugby Head Coach For Varsity Women’s Team

Trent University Excalibur women’s rugby team has hired Doug Lang as the new head coach for the upcoming 2022/23 season announced on Wednesday.

Lang has been the assistant coach for Trent in the past five seasons. Photo courtesy of Trent University.

“We are thrilled to have Coach Doug Lang as our new Excalibur women’s rugby head coach,” said Deborah Bright-Brundle, Trent director of Athletics and Recreation. “His experience with our rugby program and technical knowledge of the game will support the development of our student-athletes and our rugby program.”

Lang joined the Excalibur in 2017 as the assistant coach of the Excalibur men’s rugby team. He moved to the women’s team in 2020 serving under former head coach Pete Hercus.

“The last five years have given me a great insight into rugby at Trent and the landscape in which the sport operates,” said Lang. “Working in a range of different experiences and environments has very much shaped my coach philosophy. I believe this will allow the student-athletes to play a game truly suited to their ability and encourage them to develop their skills to play a complete game.”

Prior to coaching with Trent, Lang gained experience in the United Kingdom. He has served as head coach in and near Peterborough with the Cobourg Saxons (2017-19) and the Peterborough Pagans (2020-21).

“I like to think a successful Trent Excalibur student-athlete will thrive in any academic environment, business setting, having empathy for other team members, and support their colleagues to better strive for excellence,” said Lang.

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Trent University Honours Top Student-Athletes At Virtual Athletics Celebration

It was a fantastic season for Lauryn Bons and Thomas Reid as they were awarded the Arthur Cup, Trent University’s highest athletics award to graduating students for outstanding contribution, sportsmanship, participation and leadership in athletic programs on April 9.

Thomas Reid (left) and Lauryn Bons (right) are originally from Orillia and Trenton, Ontario respectively. Photo Courtesy of Trent University.

The awards were given at Trent’s Excalibur Awards banquet in a virtual setting to honour all of their athletes.

Bons was the female recipient for rugby as an inside back from 2017-2021. She will earn her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology at the end of the semester.

She earned the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) women’s rugby for her outstanding commitment to extracurricular activities in the 2019-2020 season.

“It was an absolute honour to be this year's Arthur Cup award recipient,” said Bons. “My four years at Trent has been an absolutely amazing experience and I am so thankful for my teammates, coaches and professors who have supported me both athletically and academically throughout my degree - I could not have done it without them.”

Bons (right) has played every single position in rugby except for the hooker position. Photo Courtesy of Lauryn Bons.

Reid earned the top male honours in men’s soccer as the team’s captain and as a centre-back defender. He is finishing his fourth year in biology with a minor in psychology and has been on the honour roll for four years running.

“I know a lot of great athletes and great people have won this award in the past so it certainly is an honour to share this award with them as well,” said Reid. “I was actually surprised to find out that I won because there are so many deserving athletes at Trent.”

Reid was named “Rookie of the Year” for Trent men’s soccer in 2017. Photo Courtesy of Thomas Reid.

Both award-winning students are founding members of the 1EX Council, a student-athlete leadership council dedicated to enhancing the overall experience of Excalibur athletes.

Their leadership and high standard in academics earned them the award according to Deborah Bright-Brundle, director of athletics and recreation.

“Lauryn and Thomas have been exemplary representatives of Trent Excalibur, who have demonstrated leadership in this very different year,” she said. “They have demonstrated leadership for their team and for Trent Athletics overall.”

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