Rugby matches mark return to D4/10 spring sports
GUELPH – For the first time since 2019 there was District 4/10 high school spring sports league play Monday with a trio of rugby matches in Guelph – two at Centennial CVI and one at Bishop Macdonell CHS – and also a junior boys’ match at Erin..
All spring sports in D4/10 in 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to the global pandemic.
Fall sports returned at the beginning of the current school year and winter sports were also held. However, both saw reduced schedules.
While D4/10 rugby started Monday, the D10 girls’ soccer’s regular season is to begin today (April 26) with four games as the Bishop Macdonell Celtics, Centennial Spartans, Centre Wellington Falcons and Ross Royals are to host games.
Each team in the league is to play today and all eight are to play twice each Thursday at St. James.
All eight teams qualify for the D10 girls’ soccer playoffs. The quarter-finals are to go May 12 with the semifinals scheduled for May 17. The season is to wrap up with the championship match May 20.
Bishop Mac won the championship in 2019.
The D4 girls’ soccer season is to start May 4 with all five teams playing twice each at Centre Dufferin DHS in Shelburne. They’re also to gather at the Palmerston arena fields May 11 for two games apiece that day to complete the regular season.
Participating this year are Centre Dufferin of Shelburne, Emmanuel Christian of Fergus, Norwell of Palmerston, Wellington Heights of Mount Forest and Westside of Orangeville.
Top four teams qualify for the May 16 playoffs. Semifinals are to be played in the morning with the third-place game set for 12:30 p.m. and the championship final slated for 2 p.m.
Westside took league honours in 2019.
D4/10 girls’ rugby has two four-team pools for regular-season play. The four non-Guelph schools (Erin, Centre Dufferin, Centre Wellington, Orangeville) are in Pool A while the four Guelph schools (Bishop Mac, Centennial, Guelph CVI, Ross) are in Pool B.
There’s no crossover play during the regular season this year.
Regular season in both pools are to finish May 3 and playoffs are to start May 9 with the semifinals and consolation semifinals.
Championship final and consolation final are to be played at Victoria Park in Fergus May 12.
Five schools are contesting D4/10 senior boys’ rugby this year with Centennial, Centre Dufferin, Erin, GCVI and Ross fielding teams. Regular season is to wrap up May 11. Top four qualify for the playoffs with semifinals slated for May 16 and 17 and the championship match set for May 19 at Fergus.
That final will be part of a boys’ rugby championship doubleheader as the junior boys’ final is also to be played May 19 at Fergus following semifinal matches May 16 and 17.
There’ll also be five junior teams competing this year. Only difference from the senior participants is that Centre Wellington is in and Centennial is out.
Ross is the defending champions in all three categories as the Royals swept the championships in 2019.
Track and field returns this year, too, with the D4/10 championship meet to be held over two days at St. James CHS as usual.
The meet is set for May 9 and May 10 with first-day events to start at 1 p.m. and second-day events to begin at 10 a.m.
CWOSSA championship meet is to be held May 18 and 19 at Brantford while the OFSAA West regional meet is to go May 27 and 28 at Windsor. The OFSAA provincial championship meet is slated for June 2 to 4 at York University.
D4/10 Senior Boys Rugby
Centennial 10 Guelph CVI 5
After two years off, league play returned with a thriller at Centennial.
GCVI scored first before Centennial rallied with two consecutive tries.
Nathan Stam and Scott Cremasco scored the tries for Centennial.
Scorer of GCVI’s try was not reported.
D4/10 Junior Boys Rugby
Centre Wellington 43 Erin 12
Wycherley (first name not reported) struck for six tries for Centre Wellington while Niki Leising had one and Cameron Hodgson added eight points.
Braden Haddow and Spencer Neal each had a try for Erin while Aiden Beggs kicked a convert.
D4/10 Girls Rugby
Guelph CVI 25 Centennial 10
Ava Buda scored a pair of tries for GCVI while Anna Iwanowski, Nicole Ta and Mirren Litchfield added one apiece.
Natalie Cremasco and Tasha Dykstra each had a try for Centennial.
Ross 24 Bishop Macdonell 0
Ross received single tries from Leah Harper, Emily Cooper, Carolina Rossi and Emma Robertson while Maeve Hagarty booted two converts.
Erin 40 Centre Wellington 0
Getting two tries apiece for Erin were Payton Bray, Maddy Eisner and Emma Warren.
Other scorers were not reported.
- Guelph Sports Journal