Grantham High School - Olympian Yearbook (St Catharines, Ontario Canada)

Page 89 text:

The Senior Basketball Team FRONT ROW: Terri- Priddy, Les Weslake, Rich Copeland, captain; John Sciamonte, Ken Atkinson. BACK ROW; Mr. Smith, coach; Bob Thomson, Don Pascoe, Alan Larocque, Geoff Brown, George Chuchman, Terry Murray, trainer; Lambert Westera, manager.

Page 88 text:

The Basketball Teams After a horrible display in exhibition play, the Senior Gat- ors roared back in fine style during the regular season. The only loss was to Merritton on a night when the Golden Lancers seemed to be unable to make a mistake, while the wins came against Sir Winston Churchill, Lakeport, Collegiate, Thorold, and Denis Morris. The Gators were also entered in the Standard Tournament and after a win against the Merritton Seniors in the preliminary round, they bowed to the Collegiate in their second game of the tournament. At the end of the season the Gators were tied with Col- legiate Saints for first place, but after a flip of a coin, were rel- egated to second place and had to play the vastly improved SWC Bulldogs in a two game total points series. They lost the first game by seven points and at the beginning of the second contest ap- peared to be lucky to stay close to the Bulldogs. The Gators came alive later in the game, however, and went on to win by four points, three less than needed to tie the series and force overtime. George Chuchman was the high scorer during the season with 90 points but team leadership and spirit was supplied by such players as co-captains Rich Copeland and Geoff Brown and hardworking John Sciamonte. Al Larocque (6 ' 5 ) supplied valuable height to the team and played well despite his limited experience. Don Pascoe was another big man who played well for the Ga- tors, displaying great agility despite his size. The team was coached very capably by Mr. Smith who kept the team working and alert at all times. Team manager was Lam- bert Westera while Steve and Terry Murray acted as trainers. The Junior League produced a close finish with four teams tied for first place. A flip of the coin decided the order of finish with the Junior Gators paired off with the SWC Juniors. Losing only to Churchill and Denis Morris during the regular season, the Gators scored victories against Collegiate, Lakeport, Merritton and Thorold. Their luck, however, ran out in the play-offs. They played well in the first game against the SWC Bulldogs coming out on top with an eight point victory. This lead slowly vanished in the second game and the teams ended tied in the series. The game went into overtime and the Gators failed to score while Churchill scored one field goal to win the series by two points. Tom Lockhart, who played for the Senior Gators in the Standard Tournament and is a good prospect for senior ball next year, was the team leader along with Don Rowdon. Other players who showed well during the season were Gary Fryatt, Aubrey Hilko, Bob Reilly, Dave Alexander and Stew Farago. Many of these players will help to bolster the senior lineup next year. Mr. Gawley again handled the Junior team this year and did a creditable job. Al Shynal kept busy looking after the player ' s needs and keeping an accurate record of statistics in his capacity as manager. Playing in the shadows of the Junior and Senior teams, the Midget Gators are often overlooked, but this year the Midget team outlasted both the Seniors and the Juniors. Tied for second place after the finish of the regular season, the team played Lakeport in the semi-finals for the city championship. Down 12 points after the first gafce, the Midgets fought back to tie the two game total points series after the end of regulation play, and went on to win the round in overtime. In the finals the Gators faced the first place St. Catharines Collegiate. The team found a real leader in the person of Eric Arsenault. He won the scoring race with a total of 133 points in six games for scoring average of over 33 points a game and clinched the title in the final games of the season when he scored 37 points to lead his team to a 20 point victory over Denis Morris. Gord Sharpe, Bob Nunnemacher and Gord Holmes were other players who hit the scoresheet regularly for the Midget Gators. Two teachers coached basketball this season for the first time and made a very good account of them- selves. Mr. Mor- gan and Mr. Jeffrey were the coaches of the midget team.

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Junior Boys ' Basketball Team FRONT ROW: Don Rowdon, Cpt.; Gary Fryatt, Dave Alexander, Les Miller, Brian Klimek. BACK ROW: Mr. Gawley, Coach; Steve Murray, Trainer; Aubrey Hilko, Bob Reilly, Gray Allen, Tom Lockhart, Pat Beard, Ray Nagy, Stew Farago, Al Shynal, Manager. Midget Boys ' Basketball Team FRONT ROW: Dave Forrest, John Parafianowicz, Eric Arsenault, John Maclean, Casey Abrahamse. BACK ROW: Mr. Jeffries, Bob Nunnemacher, Gord Holmes, Don Rode, Carl Dombek, Manager. ABSENT: Mr. Morgan, Gary Kinaschuk, Bob Parsons.