By Larry Moko
The Bishop Ryan Celtics got a confidence booster just prior to the OFSAA boys' soccer tournament.
Although they were already guaranteed a berth to the June 5-7 Ontario AAA high school tournament, BR defeated the St. John Henry Newman Cardinals, 2-1, Thursday. That contest was for the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference title.
Both the Cardinals and the Celtics will by representing the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic league at OFSAA when they vie for the gold medal in Kingston against 18 other schools.
The Celtics got goals by Tino Angelini and Sam Agyemeng in their win at Newman. They led 2-0 before Jaxson Iaquinto headed home a goal in the 52nd minute.
"It means a lot to the guys," Celtics coach Joe Cvitak said. "We thought all year we were the best team. We beat them (first-place Newman) here at their field twice."
In the league final, however, Newman -- silver-medal winners in each of the last two years at OFSAA -- eked out a 4-3 victory over BR.
"Especially after losing the league final it's good to come back here and win," Celtics Grade 11 midfielder Lucas Underhill said. "It's big for us going into OFSAA.
"We've come a long way since the start of the season."
Newman won its GHAC semifinal, 3-0, earlier in the week over the visiting White Oaks Wildcats. In comparison, the Celtics had to travel to Oakville for their 3-2 qualifying win over the Loyola Hawks.
Said Cvitak: "The guys just came off a huge win over Loyola. It was an intense game. Loyola is a very good team."
The east Mountain school turned in an equally solid performance against the Cardinals.
"It's always going to be a close game against them," Cvitak said. "We moved the ball well through the middle."
Cvitak, incidentally, won a provincial gold medal during his playing days as a member of the then Cardinal Newman Cardinals. And, as a coach, he guided the Celtics to an antique bronze medal at OFSAA 2013 in London.
Three years ago, Cvitak also coached a Bishop Ryan team to the GHAC finals where it lost 4-0 to the eventual OFSAA champion Bishop Reding Royals of Milton.
That BR squad included Underhill's older brother, Sean.
"That year we ran into a buzz kill in Reding," Cvitak recalled. "Sean and Lucas Underhill are similar players. They play in the middle and they're both tough.
"Lucas is a great player. He moves the ball well."
Lucas. who hopes to land a football scholarship, said the Celtics mesh together well on the soccer field.
"We don't get mad at each other," he said. "We communicate which, at the end of the day, is really important for a team. I think we're one of a kind."
Cvitak says the strength of BR is its midfield and back line.
Other players on the Celtics roster include Lucas Spinosa, Maksim Palisak, Rudi Jurincic, Xavier Sepe, Joe Sepe, Nathaniel Oliveira, Ramsin Kena, Joseph Cino, Marko Josipovic, Marko Gavrilouski, Mark Vrataric, Tevin Clarke, Aron John, Luka Horvat, Desi Machie, Adriano Infurnari, Santiago Ortega, Logen Wentworth, Gabriel Nazy and Cruz DeSantis.
"I'm proud of all these guys," said Cvitak, pointing out they're a good split of Grade 11 and 12 players. "Everybody stepped up this year."
Cvitak expects both Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic entries to be strong medal contenders.
"But OFSAA is good competition," he said. "You've got to play your best soccer and you have to be injury free."
Bishop Ryan's best-ever OFSAA result was a silver medal about two decades ago.
Photos by Richard Andoga
More photos on the HWCDSB Athletics Facebook page here.
