By Larry Moko
Team Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic coach Bernard Boulianne could only smile and shake his head in disbelief at the conclusion of the senior Hamilton High School All-Star volleyball game. Not again, he thought.
"For me, every time I play against him, I find a way not to win," Boulianne said, referring to Brad Heidbuurt, a member of Team Public's coaching staff.
Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic dropped a five-set match to the Public board representatives at Mohawk College Wednesday. HWCDSB led 2-1 in sets before losing the final two, 25-8, 15-12.
At the recent OFSAA volleyball championship for A teams in Chatham, Boulianne's ACMT Jaguars met Heidbuurt's Hamilton District Christian Knights in a quarter-final. And the Knights narrowly won -- 25-23, 25-23, 26-24 -- en route to capturing the gold medal.
"I can't win against him," Boulianne said. "I don't know if it's bad luck or he just out-coaches me. They're all close games."
Boulianne commented on how Heidbuurt's squad at OFSAA had the ability to close games.
"Sometimes," he said, "my guys are just too nice and they don't have the grit in them. When it's really close they crumble a little bit. It was the same here. My players at the end were a little more shaky than usual. We made some costly mistakes."
Team Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic fell behind 9-1 in the fifth set before rallying to make it an exciting finish.
"When it's a 15-point game it's tough to come back when you're down 9-1," said Boulianne, who last month guided ACMT to the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic league title before entering provincial competition at the A level.
The All-Star players of the match were Karsen Drew of the St. Mary Crusaders and Reed Fulsome of the Waterdown Warriors.
"It was competitive," Drew said. "They played better overall. It was a tough match."
A Grade 11 student, Drew was making his high school all-star debut. "I loved it," he said. "It was a lot of fun."
Public opened with a 25-22 victory in the first set before Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic rebounded with 25-21 and 25-23 wins.
"I gave Karsen the challenge to play right side instead of left side," the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic coach said. "He said 'yes sir'. He hit hard and was involved. He didn't change."
Other players on the HWCDSB senior roster included Cedrik Dass, Geno Matenge and Gabriel Picard (ACMT), Massimo Cuda, Giuseppe Palermo and Anthony Rotella (St. John Henry Newman), Lucas Das Neves and Nick Zalewski (Bishop Ryan), Zach Altura and Noah Thornberry (St. Jean de Brébeuf," Kosta Alexandrovich (St. Thomas More), Andy Lock (Bishop Tonnos) and Sebastian Hernandez Melara (Cathedral).
Photos by R.F. (Bob) Butrym, RFB Sport Photography
More photos on the HWCDSB Athletics Facebook page here