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w w w .in s id e h a lto n .c o m | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, O c to b e r 6 , 2 0 1 7 | 1 8 Kevin Nagel, Oakville Beaver Sports Editor, knagel@burlingtonpost.com Sports "Connected to your Community " (A W p;., Iroquois Ridge running back William Lee gets hauled down by the Rams' Matt Williams (72) and Kellen Butt in Halton Secondary School Athletic Association senior football action Thursday afternoon. Players on both teams were wearing pink as part of the breast cancer aware ness campaign. Iroquois Ridge went on to win the game 28-13 for its second win in three HSSAA starts while M.M. Robinson fell to 1-2. | photo by Graham Paine - Oakville Beaver McMurra/s playoff birdie prevents Giles from winning fourth straight HSSAA golf title By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff This was the break Alexis McMurray needed. Having hit her approach safely on the green, her opponent found the greenside bunker. Playing the second playoff hole at the Halton Secondary School Athletic Association golf champi onships, the odds were seemingly stacked against the 14-year-old. McMurray had built a com manding six-shot lead by firing a 7 7 in the opening round. But in the final round at Lowville Golf Club, she had slipped to an 83. That opened the door just enough for Georgetown' s Kristen Giles to storm back with a 77 of her own to leave the two of them tied at 160 after two rounds. Giles not only had momentum in her favour, she had experience as well. The Grade 12 student had won the Halton title in Grade 9, just as McMurray was now trying to do. Giles also won the following two years and was now looking to complete her high school sweep. And Giles wasn't going to give up on that easily She hit her shot out of the bunker to six feet, put ting the pressure squarely back on the Iroquois Ridge rookie, who was facing a 30-foot putt. McMurray took her time study ing the putt -- uphill with a lot of break from left to right -- from both sides of the hole. Then she stepped up to it. "My heart was racing," McMur ray said. "I just wanted to putt it close and get to the next hole." She hit it on the line she wanted. As it got to about six feet from the hole she though it might have a chance. And as it slowed, almost to a halt, it dropped into the hole. "This whole year I haven't had any huge putts that I've m ade," McMurray said. "I guess it was the right place at the right time." McMurray had competed against Giles in junior tournaments in the summer. She was aware of her history at the Halton high school event, including her win as a Grade 9. "I've always looked up to her," she said. McMurray started playing com petitively four years ago, though she' s been golfing since she was five, and now takes lessons from Carrie Vaughan at Glen Abbey This summer she earned three victories on the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour as well as posting strong finishes in a pair of Golf Associa tion of Ontario events. In August she reached the quarter-finals of the Ontario Junior (U 19) Girls' Match Play and two weeks later turned in a top-10 finish at the Ontario Ban tam (U 15) Girls' Championship. However, it was her victory at the Halton championship, which qualifies her for the provincial tournament Oct. 11-12 in North Bay, that meant a lot to her. "It was pretty overwhelming. Be ing at a new school and making the team, I just wanted to work as hard as I could to represent Iroquois the best I can," she said. "I'm proud of how I handled that situation. I've been in a playoff be fore and I've won with a par. It' s not an awful way to win but it' s cool to win finishing with a birdie." Also qualifying for the Ontario Federation of School Athletic As sociations tournament are three top-five finishes by King' s Chris tian students. Logan Hackett was third (8 3 -8 0 -1 6 3 ), followed by El lis Harvie (8 6 -7 9 -1 6 5 ) and Rachel Demaine (8 6 -8 1 -1 6 7 ). In the boys' championship, Ab bey Park' s Patrick Maloney finished second two shots behind Hayden' s Riley Card. Maloney had a tworound total of 154, with rounds of 78 and 76. He advanced to yester day' s (Thursday' s ) Golden Horse shoe Athletic Conference cham pionship at the Beverly Golf and Country Club, where he was to be joined by Ste-Trinite' s Michael Desautels, who finished fifth (7 8 -8 1 159), Oakville Trafalgar' s Sam Roy (sixth, 8 1 -7 9 -1 6 0 ) and Jack Guimaraes (seventh, 8 1 -8 0 -1 6 1 ).