Times Advocate, 1995-02-22, Page 15Page 14
Times -Advocate, February 22,1995
This Week in Sports:..
• Jr. D playoffs - page 16
• Minor hockey - page 17
Junior Panthers win Huron championship
The boys basketball team advance to H -P final and then to the WOSSA tournament
By Fred Groves
T -A staff
GODERICH - The South Huron
District High School junior boys
basketball team is heading to the
WOSSA tournament.
Last week, the Panthers won the
Huron Conference title with a 52-
44 win over the host Goderich Vi-
kings. The win put them into the H-
P final today at South Haron at 2
p.m against Stratford's St. Mike's.
While beating the Vikings and
winning the conference, heading to
the H -P event and onto WOSSA
was important, the juniors season
came to point last Tuesday.
In Exeter against the visiting F.E.
Madill Mustangs, South Huron's
Mark Bell hit a free throw with one
second left in the game to win a
very dramatic 57-56 semi-final.
'I was surprised to beat Madill. I
wasn't surprised to beat Goderich,"
said South Huron coach George
McEwan whose team along with
two other Huron -Perth schools will
advance.to WOSSA.
Against the Mustangs, the Pan-
thers were down 17-12 at the end
of the first quarter but were up by a
point, 30-29 at the half. After three
quarters it was tied 43-43.
"They (Madill) get the ball inside
and they score," said McEwan who
praised the work of Mustangs for-
ward Michael Nolan who poured in
28 points. "They are weak from the
outside. They had half the game
and we had the other."
With 55 seconds left in the game.
Dave Farquhar hit a reverse layup
to give the Panthers a three-point
lead but Paul Vaudry tied it up for
the Mustangs when he one of two
from the line.
Bell went to the line with one
second left and while he missed the
first one, he made no mistake on the
second to clinch the win. Against
the Mustangs, Jeremy Vanesbroeck
had 12 points while Luke Sims and
Bell added nine each.
Big fourth quarter: Against the
Vikings on Wednesday, the Pan-
thers came on strong and outscored
the hosts 17-1 1 in the final quarter.
"The key was defence," said
McEwan of the win. They're of-
fence has a lot of motion. We went
into a 1-3-1 defence."
The Huron final saw the first
quarter tied 11-11 after eight min-
utes and it was 24-23 for Goderich
at the half.
"We had quick motion to the ball
and it through them off their
game," added McEwan in praise of
the strong defensive play by the
Panthers.
Trevor Boers a had 13 points for
the winners an� Luke Sims added
12.
Midgets_make it to finals: After
_compiling a 4-4 regular season
record, the midget Panthers made it
all the way to the Huron finals on
Thursday at South Huron.
In the morning South Huron
knocked off F.E. Madill 36-34 and
moved into the final against Gode-
rich where they were beaten 67-40.
The final was a very close one at
the beginning as the Panthers were
only down 12-9 at the end of the
first quarter but the Vikings ex-
tended their margin to 1 I points at
the half.
Forward Kris Leppington came
off the bench and scored 14 points
to lead the Panthers while Derek
Etherington added 12.
The opening game was a big vic-
tory for the hosts as Madill had
beaten them twice in two previous
games. This one saw South Huron
take a 15-11 lead at the half.
A key rebound by Etherington
late in the game helped in a big
way and he had 12 points while
Paul Gregus added eight.
Seniors eliminated: Last Tues-
day afternoon in Goderich, against
F.E. Madill the visiting senior Pan-
thers trailed 22-13 at the first half
and couldn't bounce back losing the
Huron Conference semi-final 44-
30.
Down 8-4 after eight minutes,
Bryan McAllister led the Panthers
with 13 points while Dwayne •
McNab added seven.
South Huron junior coach George McEwan, left; and the rest Mark Bell, who had the winning free throw against Madill in Jason Nell, centre; of the South Huron midget boys basketball
of the team get ready to celebrate their win over Madill in the the semi-final junior game keeps his eye on the ball while try- team tried to get between two Goderich playe;�s n Thursday
semi-final. ing to fend off an opponent. during the Huron Conference final.
Exeter Belles win west regional championship
Work commitments stop them from heading to the provincial final tournament
ST. JACOBS - The Exeter
Belles won the Western Ontario
Ringette Provincial 'A' qualifier
tournament on the weekend
which gained them a berth in the
provincial finals in Sudbury
March 14-19.
However, according to coach
Ken Farquhar, the team will not
be making the trip.
"This was a qualifier. You win
your own region and go on to the
provincials in Sudbury. We have
problems with work commit-
ments so we won't be sending a
team," said Farquhar.
in Exeter's place. Walkerton,
who Exeter beat 10-2 in the final
will be going to the provincials.
The gold medal game in St. Ja-
cobs saw Exeter, thanks to a
couple of breakaway saves by
goalie Jana Webster, go up 5-2 at
the end of the first period.
Exeter lost to Walkerton in an
earlier game but in the champion-
ship game concentrated on the op-
position goalies weaknesses and
took a big early lead.
Amy Edwards Ted the winners
with three goals and three assists
while Heather Davies fired two
goals and set up four more. Kim
Farquhar scored twice and had
two assists while Danielle Miners
and Chris Morgan also connected.
Exeter opened the tournament
with a 7-6 loss to Walkerton. This
game was tied 6-6 with 38 sec-
onds left to play after Walkerton
pulled their goalie. Overtime was
end-to-end and each team had a
goal waved off because of players
in the crease.
Scoring for Exeter were Far-
quhar, Morgan, Katrina Brandt,
Miners, Edwards and Davies.
Edwards and Miners each had
two goals in a 5-1 physical win
over Stratford. Also scoring was
Farquhar wiw had three assists.
The third game, the one which
put thein into the final was a slim
5-3 win over Woolwich.
Farquhar led the offence with
two goals and an assist while
Miners, Teresa Stire and Edwards
also scoring in the very fast skat-
ing game which saw a lot of good
scoring chances for both teams.
Mark Bell - he's a gamer who could go
Last Tuesday afternoon Mark Bell bent over the bench an
breathed a sigh of relief.
It was over. Or was it?
Bell had just scored the winning free throw with one second
left on the clock to win the Huron Conference junior boys semi-
final game against F.E. Madill. In the entire game, he had about
a two -minute rest at the start of the fourth quarter.
While that would be the highlight for most athletes for a week,
for this 16 -year-old it was just beginning. A mature young man
with a promising athletic future, Bell was headed into what
vyo ItLd becoming a very, very long week.
Standing at the line with sweat pouring off him he missed the
first shot at the line and had to make the next.
"I hoped I could get it for the team," said Bell who admitted
he didn't want the game with Madill to go into overtime.
Five hours later he was suiting up on defence for the Exeter
Junior 'D' Hawks as they took on, and shutout Mitchell. On the
game sheet he was circled as the starting left defenseman.
Wednesday, the Hensall native travelled to Goderich where he
helped the junior hoopers win the Huron title and gain a berth in
the Huron -Perth finals. That night, he scored a goal for the
Hawks in a penalty -filled 8-2 win over the North Middlesex
Stars in Parkhill.
A hockey game Friday, another on Saturday which this week
will be followed by more basketball and more hockey makes for
a tired Mark Bell.
Why does he do it?
Hockey is bad enough for physical punishment on the old bod
but combine that with the board banging of b -ball and you can
come up with quite a few bumps and bruises.
There are a few young people in this area who are what you
might call sports junkies. They play whatever tind whenever
they can, Cara Gardner off at the Canada Winter Games is one
of them. Gavin Snell who plays hockey, ball and soccer is an-
other.
Bell dabbles in other sports like track and field and soccer but,
as regular rink rats will agree to, he excels on the ice with a stick
in his hand and dishing out body checks.
It's a tough position to put a youngster into when you ask them
what sport they would chose if they could only play one. It's
really not a fair query because for someone like Bell who is very
vital to any team he plays on, whatever he picks, the other ones
will be disappointed.
Bell told me which one he prefers and while I know he
wouldn't mind if it was printed in this column, 111 keep that tid-
bid a secret.
However, he did say that when there is a basketball game and
a hockey game at the same time, "usually hockey comes first."
The reason for that commitment to the ice is that, obviously he
ar in sports
can go farther. Canada isn't known for sending too many bas-
ketball players onto greatness.
That doesn't mean he won't be giving 100 percent plus on
Wednesday in the Huron -Perth junior boys final. He will, and
everyone, like they usually do will be counting on him.
And what about the future for Mark Bell?
It's pretty hard just to get through each day, especially last
week's gruelling schedule. but he does think of what may hap-
pen down the road.
"I want to play Junior 'B', try to get away to higher hockey. I'd
like to go to St. Marys, Waterloo or Stratford. It doesn't matter.
just as long as I get there."
Exeter has produced a few top notch defenseman;in Boston
Bruins Dave Shaw who played in Stratford, Jeff Dalrymple who
patrolled the blueline in St. Marys and Joel Campbell who was
an all-star in Waterloo.
Maybe, just maybe Bell has got a chance.
This sports reporter personally feels he has got the attitude and
skill to at least make Junior '13'.
What happens past that is a combination of fate, hard work
and a lot of luck of being in the right place at the right time.
Mark Bell - he's a gamer, keep your eyes on this one.
From jhe sidelines: Exeter native Jason Heywood is having
himselfluite a season with the University of Western Ontario
hockey Mustangs. The big forward, a standout in the past with
the St. Marys Junior 'B' Lincolns, netted two goals in a 4-1 win
over Windsor. Wfern now takes on either Waterloo or Laurier
in the playofft...Heywood's buddy Steve DuBarry of Huron
Park is having a good year at Colgate University in New York
as he has four goals over 20 games...
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