June 6th to 8th saw the Trinity College School Bigside boys rugby and track & field team members participating in the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) Championships. 

Rubgy: The Bigside boys team headed to Stratford for OFSAA and returned home with well-earned bronze medals!

The team first played Parkside Collegiate Institute from St. Thomas. We were seeded fourth, and they were seeded 13th, so on paper, we were favoured. The Bears started slowly but then fell into a groove and played some of the nicest rugby that we’ve seen all season. It's important to get off to a fast start in these 40-minute games and TCS began to score at will once the players found their stride. The game ended with a score of 33-7.

The next game was against our friendly CISAA league rivals, Ashbury College. Ashbury was seeded fifth to start the tournament and they were legitimate in terms of ability. We were able to catch part of their first game (they played after us) on day one, and they looked particularly strong against Eastdale. Regardless, Bigside came out flying and dominated from start to finish. We spent most of the game on offence and won convincingly with a score of 24-0. 

This win put TCS into the semi-finals was against LaSalle Secondary School, a powerhouse team from Kingston. They went undefeated in the regular season and were the number one seed (and eventual tournament winners). LaSalle was definitely the toughest opposition that we faced all year; they were formidable in contact and especially fast in open-field play. We dropped 19 unanswered points to them in the first half but played a much stronger second half. Still, we were unable to capitalize on offence and lost 26-0 in the end.

Despite this discouraging defeat, we still had a bronze medal to play for on the final day of competition. Our opponents would be Holy Cross from Peterborough, a team that we tied in pre-season play. The Bears got off to another slow start in that game and were down 12-0 at the half. The captains rallied the troops and we scored 12 points of our own in the second half to manage a tie at the end of regulation time. Overtime time was two five-minute halves played in a 10-on-10 format...lots of open space for our team, which plays with flair, and we favoured this set-up. Holy Cross surprised us with a kick and chase manoeuvre in the first half and they scored on the play and converted the kick. In the second half, we dominated possession and scored under the posts to once again tie the game.

With overtime complete and no winner, we went to penalty kicks. Three kicks are taken from three different locations 22 metres out. Our fate was in Matt Anderson’s hands (or foot) and he converted two of three kicks while the Holy Cross kicker pushed his kicks wide on two of three attempts. That sealed our victory! - By Blair Keiser and Matt Murray, coaches

Track & Field: A shout-out to the Senior School track & field athletes who represented TCS at the OFSAA Championships in London: Abby R., Edgar M., Noah S. and Aidan S. All of the athletes were superb ambassadors for TCS. Our younger athletes gained invaluable experience at the top level in the province and posted some fantastic times. This included Edgar achieving a personal best in the Novice 100m hurdles (15.09), Noah earning a second personal best in the Novice 300m hurdles (45.08), and Abby shaving more than six seconds off her seed time in the Junior 3000m run to clock in at 11:43.93. A nod to Aidan, who wrapped up his successful TCS running career with a 16th-place finish in the Senior 400m hurdles at OFSAA, and who served as a leader on and off the track throughout the season. View photos from the OFSAA Track & Field Championships.