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Kocken leads Abbey Park to Halton Sr. crown By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff 33 | Friday, November 18, 2016 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Darren Kocken stood on the Ron Joyce Stadium field looking at the names scrawled on a wooden baseball bat. The linebacker was a Sharpie away from adding his name to the bat, known as The Hit Stick, awarded to Abbey Park's player of the game. Of the names of dozens of players who have turned in stellar performances for the Eagles over the years, Kocken will be the first to add his after leading his team to a championship. Apart from a couple of kneel downs to run out the clock, Tuesday's Halton Tier 3 football championship game fittingly ended with Kocken sacking Milton quarterback Deejay Sharp on third down to seal the 25-14 victory. It was redemption for the Eagles, who claimed their first senior football title since the school opened in 2004, after L.B. Pearson Patriots rallied in the last five minutes to beat them in last year's final. "The returning guys, we knew how much that hurt," Kocken said. "We wanted to win (for) each other. In every huddle we were talking about doing our best for each other." Kocken could hardly have given much more in his final high school game. Trailing 6-2 after managing only a pair of Sam Mills singles and having just lost a fumble on the Milton three-yard line late in the first half, the Eagles desperately needed a spark. Kocken chased Sharp out of the pocket and into the arms of teammate Jared Mason, who brought down the quarterback for a safety to narrow the lead to 6-4. With the ball back in the hands of the Eagles offence, QB Austin Reid connected with Matt Sykes for 18 yards and Dan Pritchard for 40 on consecutive passes. Moorad Fetiah then punched it into the end zone to put Abbey Park up 11-6. In the fourth quarter, with the Eagles clinging to an 18-14 advantage, Kocken got through to the Mustangs' punter to force a fumble and again give the Eagles good field position. Five plays later, Reid drove through the line for a two-yard touchdown that put Abbey Park up by 11 with five minutes to play. "Our keys to victory were no turnovers and no penalties," said Abbey Park coach Mike Linton. "Two fumbles in their end and an interception, we almost beat ourselves, but we pulled out of it." They did it with some clutch plays on offence in the second half. With Abbey Park trailing 14-11 and facing third-andseven just inside Milton territory, Sykes threw to Pritchard along the sidelines. Pritchard dodged a couple of tackles while staying in bounds, then broke away down the sideline for a 51-yard touchdown that gave Abbey Park the lead. "Dan made a beautiful run and the whole team just rushed down there," Kocken said. "After that we were fired up and ready to go." The Eagles would not surrender the lead the rest of the game. After completing the sweep of both Tier 3 titles, Linton was already excited to see what the future held for the Eagles. "To see the junior team's success, next season starts tomorrow," he said. "This season the guys bought in and said, `Let's see what we can do.' Seeing the Grade 10s coming up, we have some good athletes." One player they won't have is Kocken. He's off to university next year where he plans to study engineering and possibly continue his football career. Linton said Kocken could have been awarded The Hit Stick in any game this season but said that it was fitting he finally received it in the Eagles' final game. Kocken himself couldn't have scripted a better ending. "This whole season was so enjoyable," he said. "The guys came out and poured their hearts out. Every single player made this happen and I have so much respect for our coaches. It's the best way to finish our senior year." Eagles defeat Webb for Halton Tier 3 Jr. title Garth Webb football coach Jason Gilbert couldn't escape the thought that he may have cost his team a championship, one that would have been a first for the Chargers. It wasn't a bad play call, or a lack of preparation that led to his team's demise. In fact, it had nothing to do with anything Gilbert did on Tuesday. It was that the Webb coach had no way of knowing when he convinced his son's lacrosse teammate to try a season of football, that it would come back to haunt him years later. Abbey Park's Matt Wright ran for a 68-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage and added TD runs of 72 and 44 yards before the first half was over to lead the Eagles to a 43-21 victory Tuesday in the Halton Tier 3 junior football final in Hamilton. It marked the first football championship for the school since it opened in 2004. "Maybe I shouldn't have developed him that well," said Gilbert, who coached Wright with the Oakville Titans rep program. "He didn't catch us by surprise, we knew what he was going to do, but when you have someone who's that athletic and has that much heart, well, he's pretty much unstoppable." Wright racked up 225 yards on the day, accounting for more than half of Abbey Park's offence on his own. But it was the combination of the Eagles' running game and the quick strike ability of quarterback Justin Sykes -- Wright's HardCor Lacrosse see Wright on p. 34 Learn how to use sociaL media and search engines to grow your business! Leading Possibility What does a Leader look like? At United Way Oakville, we believe that change starts with one person, one business, one community. It starts when people come together in support of a common goal. Leadership starts with you. The Oakville Beaver is hosting 2 FREE INFORMATION SESSIONS for local businesses to explain how they can take advantage of the Canada-Ontario Job Grant to get certified in the fundamentals of Digital Marketing. 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