Hawks Fall YRAA Playoff Results
By: Santiago Ortega
The school year is rapidly progressing, and the fall sports season came and went quickly. With November came the playoffs for all fall YRAA sports, meaning 5 of our school’s teams would compete to win a YRAA title.
First came the senior boys soccer team, who were 2-time defending YRAA champions going into the playoffs and looking to ride momentum from their win vs. St. Elizabeth to finish the regular season. As the 4th seed in the YRAA West, they would have to go against the 1-seed in the East, the undefeated Cardinal Carter Celtics, in the quarterfinals. Playing away at Cardinal Carter, the boys could not end the Celtics’ winning streak and would lose 5-1, with a late-game goal being all the scoring they could get. Cardinal Carter continued their dominance and won the YRAA tier 1 championship, winning every game they played.
Next was the senior boys volleyball team, who had the home-court advantage in their first-round matchup against the Stephen Lewis Sharks in the tier 2 volleyball playoffs. The boys came in with a few injuries to the squad but were still determined to win. They showed fight throughout their match but would ultimately lose in the first round, 3 sets to 1, by scores of 20-25, 12-25, 25-22, & 17-25.
The junior boys soccer team finished up an undefeated regular season as the 1-seed in the YRAA West division, giving them home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and a quarterfinal matchup against the 4-seed in the east, the St. Theresa of Lisieux Lions. The junior boys were able to pull through and get a 2-1 win to send them to the semi-finals against the St. Brother Andre Cardinals. The junior boys also came into the playoffs as reigning champions and were looking to defend their title. However, they would fall short in their next match, losing 0-3 to St. Brother Andre. The Cardinals would then go on to win the YRAA junior tier 1 championship and, in some twist of fate, both of our defending soccer champions had lost to the eventual new champions.
Following them, the senior girls basketball team went away to Richmond Hill HS for their round-of-16 matchup against the Raiders. The girls played a close game but would unfortunately not be able to beat the Raiders and were eliminated with a 27-40 loss.
Lastly, the junior girls basketball team came into the playoffs having won all 7 of their regular season games and looking to keep the momentum going. They were the 1-seed in the Central-West division due to their success and would have a quarterfinal matchup at Tommy Douglas SS vs. the Titans as they looked to continue their winning streak. The girls did just that with a 29-15 win and kept their season alive as they came home for a semi-final matchup against the Stouffville Spartans. The game proved to be a nail-biter, with both teams always staying within punching distance of the other. However, as the 4th quarter winded down, Stouffville was able to make some key shots and pulled away at the end with a 39-33 win, eliminating the junior girls.
Despite the losses, all our teams made Holy Cross proud with their performances. As for the next sports to look forward to, senior boys hockey will have started by this article’s publishing, with boys basketball and girls volleyball also starting in early December. As always, go Hawks!