Warriors strike gold, silver at NORWOSSA court sports championships

Tim Brody - Editor

Gold and silver medals for the Sioux North High School (SNHS) Warriors at the NORWOSSA “AA” Division Winter Court Sports Championships, which were hosted by Sioux North High School on Feb. 13.
First to compete was the SNHS Senior Girls Volleyball Team, who took on the Dryden High School Eagles in the semi-finals, which were played at the Sioux Lookout Recreation Centre.
The Warriors won their first set 25-23. The Warriors went on to won the second set 25-20. The Eagles took the third set 25-23. The Warriors dug deep and won the third set 25-17 to win the match three sets to one, moving on to face the Fort Frances High School Muskies in the final.
In the senior girls volleyball final, the Muskies took the first set 25-19. The Muskies won the second set 25-22. The Muskies went on to win the third set 25-11 to defeat the Warriors in three straight sets.
SNHS Senior Girls Volleyball Team Coach Talbot Johnson said after the final that although his team was a bit tired from playing earlier that day, they were in it to win it. “I just told them to play hard.
I feel like every single game we were in. I didn’t feel we were out of any game because of the girls’ attitudes.”
Johnson said it was a rebuilding year for the team with some returning players and a lot of new players. The team recorded four wins and five losses this season. He said of finishing the season with silver medals, “This is a great improvement because last year we didn’t have a single win and this year we got silver.”
The SNHS Junior Girls Volleyball Team finished first in their division, earning a bye into the final, where they faced the Muskies.
The Muskies took the first set 25-23. The Warriors came back to win the second set 25-16 and never looked back, winning the third set 25-17 and winning the fourth set 25-6 to win the match three sets to one and become NORWOSSA Champions.
Niska Monaco and Nellie Angeconeb said it felt great to win gold.
“I think deep down, we always knew we would be able to come back, so once we got the nerves shaken off, it was pretty easy for us to keep the lead,” Monaco said.
“Volleyball is a very mental game, so we just had to push through that,” Angeconeb agreed.
SNHS Junior Girls Volleyball Team Coaches Mario Boivin and Stephanie Kitchkeesick said they were proud of their team.
“I think we have a really strong team, not just fundamentally strong, but the girls have really solid mental games, so even though they dropped the first set, they knew they were going to come back in the second and keep playing strong… volleyball is very much a mental game,” Kitchkeesick said.
“When you have a team that is willing to be in the gym any day we don’t have a game, that’s when you know you have  a really high potential to win,” she added.
“The girls did great this season,” Boivin said. “They went 8-1. Last weekend they won a Thunder Bay tournament with 16 teams. They went 7-0 and they competed against the top Thunder Bay teams and were really successful there.”
The SNHS Senior Boys Basketball Team also finished first in their division, earning a bye into the final, where they also faced the Muskies.
The Warriors took a 12-9 lead after the first quarter, going on to take a 26-17 lead after the second quarter. The Muskies cut into the Warriors lead in the third quarter, bringing the score to 33-28 in favour of the Warriors by the time the quarter wrapped up. As the game wound down, the Muskies had brought the score to 40-38 in favour of the Warriors. An intentional foul called against the Muskies in the dying seconds of the game sent Tyson Vincent to the free throw line for the Warriors for two shots and possession of the ball. Vincent sank both shots to give the Warriors the win 42-28 win.
Vincent said after the game he knew he wouldn’t miss, “Just Hordy making us do free throws in practice and realizing how important it was. I knew I wasn’t missing because we do ‘em so much in practice because of how important they were.”
“It felt great to seal it up for the team,” he added.
Ryder Boissonneault said it felt great to win gold. “It feels good. We’ve been working a long time towards this. Me and Owen, we’ve been teammates for six years now and this is our first official championship with each other, so it feels really good.”
Boissonneault was a real presence on the court, forcing his way into the paint. “I was just trying to attack the rim as much as I could. I had a really good defender on me but just had to work hard and get the job done,” he said.
Owen Belisle agreed with Boissonneault, “Absolutely amazing. Couldn’t have done it without my team. We had an undefeated season and everyone’s a contributor and it really shows when we stick together.”
SNHS Senior Boys Basketball Coach Shawn Hordy said of capping off an undefeated season, “It was the goal from day one to come out and make it to this point and win this game and here we are.”
Hordy said hard work was the key to his team’s dominance this season, “Honestly it was the hard work the players put in outside of practice. Their commitment to basketball and going to play on weekends or men’s nights, and in the summer made the difference. We practice hard. We push hard. But the extra work they do on their own time sets them apart from everyone else.”
Commenting on the final, which came down to the wire, Hordy said, “This is the first game we’ve been pretty beat up in the lineup, injuries and sickness and stuff and it showed on the court a little bit but not taking away from the other team, they hit their open shots that we let them shoot… it was a battle.”
Kevin Vinczeffy and Michael Kreisz contributed to the win as assistant coaches.
Hordy said the team is looking forward to the NWOSSA “AA” Basketball Championship, which SNHS will host on Feb. 20 and 21. SNHS will face vs Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute in a best of three series with game one taking place on Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. at Sioux North High School.
Game two, and game three, if necessary, will also take place at SNHS.
The games will be livestreamed at SNHSATHLETICS on YouTube.
If the Warriors win, they would move on to OFSAA, the provincial championship.
SNHS Athletic Director Jason MacMillan said he thought the NORWOSSA “AA” Winter Court Sports Championships went very well. 
“We had a lot of people helping me out, so a big shout out to our athletic council that we have here at Sioux North High School. I have a variety of different teachers and staff on that council that organize a lot of the NORWOSSA activities that we do have at Sioux North High School. We met it, would have been last week prior to NORWOSSA. They helped me to schedule everything, have everything from livestreaming to setting up Student Square for our athletes, to providing food, we had one of our hospitality classes put together the Ceasar wraps, we had another class do the advertisements for the wall, we had Thomas Whatley at Pelican Falls School print out our banners for us. We had a lot of people that contributed to the success of the day… it was a team approach, we had a huge impact from athletic council that really made the day a success.”
He added, “I’m just really appreciative of all the help and support that we got, whether it was our council, our coaches, our athletes, our parents, everyone contributed to making the NORWOSSA Championships a success.”
 MacMillan said he’s proud of the school’s athletes, “We strive for success. We want our athletes to exhibit that Warrior pride and I think first and foremost the most important is that everyone exhibited strength, pride, resilience throughout the day… the biggest thing is, for me as an athletic director is to really hear about the positivity throughout the day. They were great leaders throughout the day and throughout the whole season and that really made the day exceptional for us.”