ENSS girls vie for provincial championship

Posted Feb 16, 2012 By Ray Yurkowski

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Elizabeth Harder (second) and Allison Wight (skip).

Elizabeth Harder (second) and Allison Wight (skip).

EMC Sports -Brighton - There were a few intense moments for the East Northumberland Secondary School (ENSS) girl's curling team when they went undefeated to win the Gore Mutual Ontario High School Curling regional competition on February 4 and 5.

In the first match of the weekend, the girls were tied at the end of the game, but scored four in the extra end for the win. The team: Allison Wight (skip), Jessica Carr (vice), Elizabeth Harder (second) and Katie Draper (lead), knew they had to keep their cool.

"You just have to keep playing the game," says Wight. "You really have to focus, shot by shot or end by end."

The girls acknowledge the Gore regional win is their biggest accomplishment in the sport so far at the school. "Or ever," quipped Carr with a laugh.

Now, they'll play against the best in the province for the 2012 Gore Ontario School Curling Championship. In all, eight teams are competing in the three-day event, which runs this weekend at Orangeville.

The ENSS team are seeded in Pool A along with teams from I.E. Weldon Secondary School (Lindsay), Central Elgin Collegiate Institute (St. Thomas) and Parry Sound High School.

The rest of the field includes St. Mary's Catholic High School (Brockville), Westmount Secondary School (Hamilton), Newmarket High School and Patrick Fogarty Catholic High School (Orillia).

This year is the first time ENSS has had a team competing at the Gore championship, which started in 1948 and is the oldest trophy awarded for a high school sports competition in the province.

Coaches Suzanne Doornbos and Brad Bresee say the girls on the team are a coach's dream.

"They listen to every detail and try to understand why we ask them questions about why they are making a particular shot," said Doornbos. "We haven't had to tweak too much on them."

She adds this team is the strongest from the school in the years she's been coaching the sport.

"It's almost boring for us because they're such a strong team together," added Doornbos. "And to have them together again next year ... it's going to be awesome."

And, given their ages, the team will be together for another season: Draper is the youngest in Grade 9, Wight, Carr and Harder are in Grade 11.

"This year is the first time that I'm not stressed out when they're playing a game," said Doornbos.

The mantra for the Gore tournament? One shot at a time.

"If they can accomplish one shot at a time, they can compete against any team out there," said Bresee. "In terms of their development, it's a dramatic change from where they started off this season to where they are right now."

In the local Bay of Quinte action, the ENSS girls earned a bye as a semi-final match is to be played at press time Tuesday. The winner will play the ENSS squad at the Brighton Curling Club on February 29. The winner of that match earns a berth into the COSSA regional championship to be held on March 6. The provincials (OFSAA) are slated for March 21 to 24 at Niagara (Welland, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls).