The Chatelech Eagles juvenile boys are red hot.
Winners of three straight, the Eagles are riding high as they head into their first playoff game Feb. 19 in North Vancouver against a yet to be determined opponent.
Last week Chatelech defeated Mulgrave 59-29. Ahead 25-2 in the first quarter and 43-6 at halftime, Chat cruised to their second victory in four league games. Paul Desautels led the way with 18 points in only 16 minutes of play.
Eli Paradis hit for a season high 14, while Nathaniel Lussier, Oliver Telfer and Zander Reid added six points apiece.
Oceanview Middle School in Powell River was the next team to fall. Two games played back to back resulted in a cumulative 78-59 Eagles win. Once again Paul led the team in scoring, with big games from Zander, Eli and Nick Mercer. Nick played most of the two games with a sprained wrist.
The third game saw the final match-up of the year between the Eagles and the Cougars from Elphinstone. Although the Cougars showed much heart and improvement since the start of the year, the Eagles prevailed 57-29 and thereby guaranteed themselves a playoff spot in the North Shore league for the second year in a row.
Chat sits at 3-2 in league play. The Eagles played their last league game on Wednesday in North Vancouver against Collingwood. A result was not available at press time.
"It's a tribute to the hard work this team has put into the season and the outstanding help we've received from coach Garry Nohr," said Chat coach Sean Smith. "Not only have we lost three of our starters from last year, but three of our new players had never even played a game of high school ball before this year. Last year's veterans really picked up the slack and the whole team was committed to doing their best right from the start."
The Cougars slipped to 0-5 in league play after dropping a 72-27 contest to Collingwood on Feb. 7.
The Elphi junior boys are 2-5 in league play after a 81-45 loss to West Vancouver last Wednesday. Elphi played their last league game yesterday (Thursday) against Seycove.
Both the Eagles and Cougars have been busy as well in senior boys action.
On Thursday, Jan. 25, Chat travelled to Squamish for a league game against Howe Sound and lost 104 to 79. Rod Abengoza scored 34 in the loss.
On Jan. 30, Seycove came to the Sunshine Coast for another league game. With the score tied 28-28 at the half, Chat came out in the third and asserted themselves defensively, holding Seycove to only 15 second half points en route to a 60-43 win.On Feb. 1, Chat hit the road for a contest against Sentinel. Heading in, Sentinel was 4-0, but Chat put an end to their perfect season with an 81-72 victory. Devan Haynes poured in 45.
On Monday, Feb. 5, Chat again travelled to the North Shore and played 9-0 Windsor. With a minute to go, Chat was up by one point, but lost the game 77-74. Devan scored 44.
On the Feb. 2 weekend, Chat had mixed results at a tournament at St. John's.
Chat beat Regent Christian 60-44 in their opener, but dropped a 66-62 game to St. George's in game two with Devan leading the way scoring 35 points. In their last game, Chat edged Pemberton 69-52. Devan scored 18 and was selected a tournament all-star.
"At this stage of the season we are playing better than we were after the Christmas break, but we still lack a more balanced scoring attack," said coach Bruce Haynes.
The Cougars are 3-5 on league play after losing 72-37 to Sentinel on Feb. 7.
Before that, Elphi also took part at in the St. John's tournament, finishing fourth. The Cougars lost their opener by seven to St. George's, but won their last two games. Trevor Hatful and Mitch Rainer were named tournament all-stars and Andrew Baron was Elphi's MVP.
Last weekend Elphi hosted their annual tournament. Eight teams took part including Chat, Pender Harbour, Pemberton, St. John's, Howe Sound, Campbell River and the Elphi junior boys team after Cariboo Hill dropped out at the last minute.
Elphi finished second in the tournament losing the championship final by four points to Howe Sound. Chat finished third, while Pemberton was fourth.
Elphi coach Mike Sopow said it was an excellent tournament with a lot of competitive games.
Trevor was named an all-star, while Wesley and Jordan Liden also had excellent tournaments.
Both Chat and Elphi finished up their league schedules this week with the North Shore League playoffs starting today (Feb. 16) in North Vancouver to determine the two teams to represent the zone at the provincials next month in Kamloops.The season is over for both the Chat and Elphi senior girls teams.
Chat finished out the season with a 74-12 loss against Windsor Feb. 6 to finish 1-8. The Cougars lost 57-32 to Rockridge and 52-25 to Mulgrave last week to finish 0-9.
