Many are the dividends of the rise in caliber of boys’ soccer in Sudbury.

Not only are highly encouraging performances from GSSC Impact representatives being witnessed on a weekly basis, but the filter through to the high-school ranks is every bit as evident.

A troika of SDSSAA teams claimed NOSSA banners this weekend, all three doing so in relatively convincing fashion as soccer action took place in Sudbury and North Bay, with the AA/AAA girls making their way to Sault Ste Marie.

The first of the banner hoisting would occur on Friday at the James Jerome Sports Complex as the St Charles College Cardinals' junior crew broke the ice late in the opening half on a goal from Logan Remeikis, with Gabriel Sonntag and Mason Walker adding insurance early in the second half to help propel the runners-up in the city final (Lo-Ellen would claim that honour) to a 3-0 win over the St Joseph Scollard Hall Bears from North Bay (Colton Nowoselsky with the shutout).

The Cards had been gearing up for a rematch with the LOE Knights before the NDSAA champs surprised the locals with a semi-final win. Thankfully, it didn’t take the St Charles’ lads long to turn their attention to a northern rival with whom they had at least some familiarity.

“Lo-Ellen has been going undefeated this season,” noted SCC midfielder Chinedum Kingsley-Emereuwa. “When they (STSH) beat them, we knew that we were going to win. We beat them before in North Bay and we have guys who are all fast, so we were going through them and they didn’t know what hit them.”

Kingsley-Emereuwa and family made the move from Nigeria to Canada only a few years ago, quickly immersing himself in the world’s most popular sport - even if things look a little bit different on this side of the Atlantic.

“In Nigeria, we would play just for fun, outside with friends,” he said. “We don’t really have cleats and stuff and coaching isn’t very regular, so we just go out and play. Here, there are rules.”

Joining the junior Cardinals in walking off with NOSSA gold were the St Charles senior boys as well, downing the Lo-Ellen Park Knights 3-1 as both local schools booked their trip to OFSAA, SCC heading to the AA playdowns in Bradford while LOE has a bit longer of a trek, travelling to Windsor for the AAA event.

Manzo Shimizu scored twice for the Cardinals with Oscar Kunkar getting the other while Massimo Grossi countered in a losing cause for the Knights.

Over in North Bay, the St Benedict Bears made things look easy, punching their ticket to the OFSAA Boys A Soccer Championships in London with an 8-0 win over the White Pines Wolverines from Sault Ste Marie.

Donald Munyua paced the Bears’ attack with a three-goal effort with teammates Julian Mariotti, Paolo Grossi, Emmanuel Boamah, Michael NGoyet and London Croome all finding their way on to the scoresheet once each.

With much of their team back intact, the Horizon Aigles girls hope to capitalize on the knowledge they garnered in posting a 1-3-0 record at the 2022 OFSAA Girls A tournament, making a return trip this June as they join St Ben’s in London.

The two-time city champs stopped the West Ferris Trojans 4-1 in semi-final action (Kiara Levac-2; Brooke Duguas; Olivia Hinich) before blanking the Algonquin Barons 4-0 in the final (Kiara Levac-2; Kennedy Bellefeuille, Olivia Hinich).

After making a real serious run at a final four OFSAA berth last year, the St Charles College Cardinals baseball team might not quite be at that level this June – at least not just yet – even after completing a 3-0 performance at NOSSA with a 13-1 over the Collège Notre-Dame Alouettes in the final.

“I think we are just a little too young,” noted head coach Jean-Gilles Larocque, a man who knows a thing or two about the caliber of high-school baseball right across the province. “Last year, we had a lot of grade 12’s; (Yannick) Loiselle and (Braeden) Pakkala were back as grade 13’s.”

“We were an older, more mature team last year. We have six grade nines this year.”

Still, the Cards were clearly the class of the northern loop, with pitchers Nico Signorile and Colton Nowoselsky combining to shut down CND last Wednesday while Gabriel Larocque enjoyed a flawless tournament at the plate (reached base each and every one of his plate appearances with something like eight hits and four walks) and Devan Madore anchoring a stingy defense from his role at shortstop.

Seeded fifth entering the nine team west regional playdown in Windsor, Larocque knows that his team certainly has enough to cause opponents some fits. “I think we have enough pitching depth in the sense that we will have enough arms to last the tournament – and that’s a big part of this event,” he said.

“We’re going to have to play well defensively and we’re going to have to hit.”

St Charles opens play Wednesday morning against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from Burlington with a roster that also includes Carter Baron, Cameron Bauer, Hudson Fletcher, Jack Gouchie, Joe Gouchie, Brody Mabbott, Ethan Morris, Christopher St Germain, Ethan Thompson and Logan West.

Rounding out the hardware that was doled out last week are the Horizon Aigles girls slo-pitch team, defending their A division title from one year ago and giving the Val Caron school four straight banners going back to the B crows they captured in 2018 and 2019.

The Aigles bounced the Bishop Carter Gators 25-15 in the final after slipping past the Confederation Chargers (13-9) in QF action and knocking off the traditional powerhouse that is the Rivières des Francais Muskies in the semis (22-7).

“I really focus on hitting,” noted Horizon head coach Ghislain Roy, now involved with the team for some 7-8 years. “Most of the teams will have four or five girls that can hit; the rest, not so well. When your bottom of the lineup can hit the ball, you don’t have a weak spot.”

Members of the SDSSAA banner winning team are Kiana Bergeron, Chloé Rinaldi, Kalia Pharand, Lexi Briscoe, Emily Mathias, Breanna Lemaire, Kayley Lemaire, Kennedy Bellefeuille, Meaghan Paquette, Brielle Moran and Désirée Charbonneau.