This past weekend the CDDHS Royals Junior boys basketball team travelled to Cambridge to compete in the CWOSSAA championships.

Expectations ran high as the team went in ranked number one.

The Royals did not disappoint crushing Grey Highlands from Flesherton 85-20 in their opening round Friday morning, defeating North Park from Brantford 55-35 in the semi-finals Saturday morning, and then winning the championship Saturday night over Jacob Hespler SS.

In the final game, Shelburne started slow and were behind 6-5 at the end of the first quarter.

“We’ve never been held to five points in a quarter by anyone!” said coach Ron Docksteader. “We were missing too many shots and not driving to the basket.”

Whatever the coach said during the first break must have worked, because the boys from CDDHS came out flying in the second quarter, going on a 12-0 run in the first three minutes, and never looked back.

Matt Pflance started the quarter with a key three-pointer, and the Royals stifling zone defence kept the JHSS Hawks rattled.

The lead was pushed up to 20 points for the Royals before Cambridge hit some desperation three’s in an attempt to get back into the game.

CDDHS held firm and finished with a comfortable 47-30 victory.

The tournament MVP was CDDHS’s Marco Zanette, who grabbed 26 rebounds, and scored 20 points in the championship game.

He was joined on the first team all-star squad by brother Carlo and team mate Doug Costanzo. Dan Craig was selected to the second all-star team. The Royals were never really challenged during the tournament, and every team member saw floor time over the course of the weekend.

Jamelle Henry played an important role as ‘sixth man’, and the rest of the bench all had supporting roles that contributed to the team’s success.

The win at CWOSSA capped an amazing season for the Junior Boys from Shelburne.

Their season record stands at 32 wins against only four losses!

“The very first practice we set winning CWOSSA as our goal.”, said Docksteader, “What this team has accomplished is amazing. No other basketball team from this school has ever won CWOSSA. I think a lot of other coaches now know where Shelburne is”, he added with laugh.

There is no OFSSAA for Junior sports, so this team went as far as they could go.

The players that move on to Senior next year will have to wait until then to see if they can take their experience and success to the next level.

Junior Royals team members include Dan Craig, Carlo Zanette, Doug Costanzo, Matt Pflance, Will Walsh, Dylan Kekanovich, James Dryer, Druv Patel, Danny Baigent, Zad Mangat, Adam Marsh, Marco Zanette and Jamele Henry.