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Oakville's junior hockey Ridge victory in Sr. Tier 2 football final `like a movie' teams continue to roll by Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver Staff 47 | Thursday, November 27, 2014 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Hornets run unbeaten streak to 20; Blades win eighth straight contest Loren Gabel set the tone early, scoring just five seconds into the contest as the Oakville Hornets beat Waterloo 4-1 Sunday to run their unbeaten streak to 20 games. Gabel later added a power-play goal and set up Madison Field for another, helping Oakville improve its Provincial Women's Hockey League record to 180-2. Gabel, who had a hat trick in the Hornets' previous game, has six goals and nine points in her past four games. Nikki Cece, who took over for starter Daniela Paniccia eight minutes into the game, stopped all 12 shots she faced to extend her shutout streak to 195 minutes. The Hornets netminder last allowed a goal Nov. 2 in the third period of a game against London and has posted a 0.21 goals-against average and a .989 save percentage this month. After Gabel opened the scoring, Christina Putigna made it 2-0 at the five-minute mark. Waterloo cut the Oakville lead in half just 44 seconds later. Gabel's power-play marker midway through the second period restored Oakville's two-goal advantage and Field added an insurance marker three minutes into the third. Emma Maltais and Jaime Bourbonnais each had two assists for the Hornets. Oakville visited Aurora yesterday (Wednesday) and will be back home to host the 14-2-1 Toronto Aeros Saturday at Joshua's Creek Arenas, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Blades win three games in four nights Daniel Mannella stopped all 31 shots he faced and Ross Sloan scored the only goal of the game as the Oakville Blades extended their winning streak to eight games with a 1-0 victory over the Hamilton Red Wings Monday in Hamilton. Sloan broke a scoreless deadlock 8:09 into the second period, with Kamil Tkaczuk recording an assist. Mannella ensured the goal stood up as the winner, earning his third shutout of the Ontario Junior Hockey League season and dropping his goalsagainst average to 1.85. The 19-year-old Woodbridge native also carried a shutout into the third period of the Blades' previous game, a 4-1 triumph Saturday over the host Cobourg Cougars. Greg Campbell, Ross Sloan, Matt Lippa and Ryan Garvey tallied for Oakville. The goal Saturday was the eighth in six games for Garvey, who potted a pair in the Blades' 6-2 win over Hamilton Friday at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. Max Lindsay, Josh Kosack, Brandon Hughes and Garvey scored in the second period to blow the game open. Zackary Vukosa, playing in his first OJHL contest, added a marker in the final minute of regulation, and Brendan McGlynn made 22 saves. The Blades, now 17-9-1-1 and atop the South Division standings, will be home to North York Friday for a 7:30 p.m. start at Sixteen Mile. Oakville will visit the Stouffville Spirit Saturday. In the opening game of the high school football season, Taylor Kurc was simply trying to make a play with his team clinging to a two-point lead in the dying minutes. The fifth-year Iroquois Ridge student didn't quite get to where he needed to be quick enough, though, and was flagged for a late hit. "A stupid penalty," he said. It kept the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders' drive alive and shortly after, with half a minute to play, Aquinas kicked a game-winning field goal to win 19-18. Tuesday, as the teams met again at Burlington's Nelson Stadium in the final game of the season, Kurc had a chance to make things right. Or suffer more heartbreak. Aquinas, which had not lost all season, had a chance to keep its undefeated campaign intact. After leading throughout Friday's Halton senior tier 2 final, the Raiders had fallen behind for the first time a minute earlier when an 80yard fumble return by the Trailblazers' Liam Creed set up David Monk's 10yard field goal to put Iroquois Ridge up 8-7. Raider quarterback Garrett Holmes responded by completing three passes for 61 yards, moving Aquinas deep into Ridge territory and setting up a potential game-winning 22-yard field goal with 16 seconds to play. Kurc, who also contributed a pair of interceptions in the final, saw it as an ideal opportunity for redemption. Playing summer football for the Halton Hills Crimson Tide, Kurc estimates he blocked eight field goals. "It's all about speed," he says. "You've just got to get around the corner before he can catch you." This time, Kurc's timing was perfect. As the ball was snapped, he burst around the left side of the line and cut quickly toward the middle of the field. He dove headlong as the ball came off the foot of the Aquinas kicker. The ball ricocheted off his arm and went high in the air toward the right upright. It finally dropped to the turf a couple of yards short of the end zone as time expired. "Honestly, it sounds like a movie," said Kurc as his team celebrated the vic- Iroquois Ridge players Taylor Kurc (left) and Warren Lister break up a pass intended for St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders receiver Declan Goncalves. | photo by Eric Riehl --Oakville Beaver tory. And what script would be complete without an unlikely hero? Fumble return turned game around With less than two minutes remaining, it looked like Aquinas would once again pull out a victory over the Trailblazers. The Raiders' gamble to concede a safety early in the final quarter and trade two points for field position was paying off. The Raiders, who had led since Billy McPherson's three-yard touchdown run six minutes into the game, were inside the Ridge 25 and needed only one more first down to be able to run out the clock. "Our coach (Kris Reeve) was telling all of us at the half, `Keep fighting to the end,'" said Iroquois Ridge's Aaron Costantini, who would swing the momentum of the game on the next play. Costantini and Creed broke through the Aquinas line to get to Holmes. Costantini knocked the ball out of the quarterback's grasp and it bounced off the turf and into the arms of Creed. With nothing but open field between him and the goal line, Creed has just one thing running through his mind. "I better not fall," he thought. But with the goal line approaching, Creed could feel something against his heels. A second later, Aquinas' Stefan Finelli saved a touchdown by pulling down Creed at the four-yard line. After two running plays were stopped short of the end zone, Iroquois Ridge's hopes of a championship rested on Monk, who had never played football before this season. A soccer player, Monk has waited until his fifth year before going out for the football team. "It's the situation every kicker dreams of," said Monk, who got Iroquois Ridge on the board in the second quarter with a 34-yarder that had more than enough to make it from 50. This one would be a relative chip shot from 10 yards, but nothing is routine about a championship-winning field goal -- especially for a rookie kicker with a minute remaining in the season. Monk would make no mistake, splitting the uprights to give the Trailblazers their first lead of the game. But the Ridge defence would have to withstand one last test. Holmes hooked up with Marcus Pappin (28 yards) and Owen Huntington (17 yards) and then escaped a sack before connecting with Declan Goncalves (16 yards), moving the Raiders to the Ridge 24-yard line. The Trailblazers defence, which allowed just 92 points in nine games this season, would not break, though. It once again came up with the big play it needed. "Our defence did a phenomenal job," Monk said. "This was the team's win," Creed said. "It feels so great. We were two evenlymatched teams. They have some very good players. Our team just loves this game so much." Reeve was especially happy for the six players -- quarterback Adam Power, receiver Justin Polgar, Costantini, Kruc, T.J. Wright and Monk -- who returned for a fifth year, hoping to help the Trailblazers win a title after bring knocked out by Aquinas in last year's quarterfinal. "We lost that first game this season," Reeve said, "but then we refocused and we promised ourselves we weren't going to lose another game." Tuesday, the Trailblazers delivered on that promise. Titans had little preparation time for OFSAA bowl opponent continued from p.46 29-yard touchdown on third and long. Monday's contest began at 11 a.m. so that the winner could meet the OFSAA requirement of 72 hours between games. It makes for a short turnaround for the Titans' coaching staff, which typically does videotape breakdowns of each of its opponents. "We really don't know anything (about St. Peter). That's the one negative about the OFSAA bowls. We'll have to go out there and run our offence, run our defence, make some adjustments and hope for the best," Moscato said. "It's not just show up and play. Maybe offensively we can say that because we have a system that we run. But defensively, we need to be prepared for what (opponents) do, and on special teams, too." The one thing the Titans do know about today is that it will mark the final game of a special season of unprecedented success. "I am kind of sad," Ellis said. "I wish we could play more. (For some), it's our last year. We've got to make the best of it."