WESTSIDE THUNDER’S Josh Hodge goes up and over the Wolverines defence during third quarter action of their 56-25 win in Tuesday afternoon’s District 4 semi-final against Wellington Heights. Photo/MIKE MALONEY To the surprise of few, Westside Secondary will be the team to beat as the Thunder get set to defend their District 4 Senior Boys basketball title on Thursday afternoon.

Posting a regular season record of 7-1, the Thunder finished first in their division but needed to get past Wellington Heights in their semi-final game played at Westside on Tuesday afternoon before officially being put in a position to defend their championship title.

Starting off slow in the opening two quarters, Westside cranked up the heat when they returned to the floor for the second half leading by a score of 27-13.

Josh Hodge would be the Thunder's go-to guy in this game with Hodge figuring prominently at both ends of the floor. Offensively, he dominated the score sheet leading the way with 20 points, including a huge dunk in the third, followed by a three-pointer on the very next play as well as coming up with some big rebounds in his own end to contain the Wolverines’ chances.

As has been the case most of the season, the other big player for Orangeville was Adam Craig, who scored 16 of his own on the way to a decisive 56-25 win for the Thunder.

What does come as a surprise will be their opponents in the final – Norwell District Secondary School – who upset second place CDDHS Royals 43-33 in their semi-final contest in Shelburne on Tuesday.

On the Junior side of the basketball slate, however, there are no unexpected guest scheduled to make an appearance in their final set for Monday afternoon as CDDHS and Westside will be vying for top spot in District 4.

The Royals made it clear they deserved their chance at the title with a convincing 72- 27 semi-final win over Wellington Heights, while in Orangeville, the Thunder held off the Redmen 46-35.

2009 champions Thunder, however, will be going into this game as underdogs, finishing four points back in the regular season behind CDDHS, who posted perfect 6-0 record.