For at least the third-straight year, the R.F. Staples junior high girls team will be going to zone championships after winning the divisionals last Thursday in Barrhead.
R.F. Staples junior high girls coach Margaret Benham said the club has won divisionals for at least the past three years, though they may have had the title as long as five.
The T-Birds defeated Swan Hills and Neerlandia in their first two matches to qualify for the championship.
Although R.F. Staples had not played Swan Hills this year, they won both matches fairly handily, Benham indicated.
In the final, the junior girls faced off with Pembina North Community School out of Dapp. PCNS had previously beaten R.F. Staples twice this season, Benham noted.
As such, R.F. Staples knew what they were up against and had planned and practiced to take on Pembina North, Benham said.
“We knew what we had to do,” she added. “The girls were told they had to set the tone early on.”
The junior girls took an early lead and maintained it throughout the entire game, she indicated. Although Pembina North did start to catch up towards the end, they couldn’t overcome the R.F. Staples squad, which won the match 35-31.
With this victory, the junior girls are now qualified to go to Mayerthorpe for zones this March 6-7 weekend.
Benham noted their team won the zones last year, so they are the defending champions.
The R.F. Staples junior high boys also competed at the divisionals on Thursday, but lost out a tight match against Barrhead Composite High School to finish second.
Barrhead was the one team that the R.F. Staples junior boys were unable to beat all year, noted coach Matti Gatzki.
Despite the loss, Gatzki said she was really proud of the boys.
“Their game has improved so much over the year,” she added.
Prior to the final, the R.F. Staples team defeated Clyde and St. Mary School and won both games quite handily.
During the final, Barrhead gained an early lead. R.F. Staples was able to battle back and catch up to them, but Barrhead would inevitably pull ahead again.
“It was tight. It was intense, the whole game,” said Gatzki, noting the final was 49-40.
Divisionals marks the end of the junior boys season, aside from a final practice and wind-up this week.
Gatzki said the junior boys were able to win silver medals in most of the tournaments they played in this year, including Mayerthorpe and Barrhead. They also won all of their exhibition games.
