Teams advanced to this week's OFSAA championships

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Marshal McLuhan Catholic Secondary School was the undisputed power in rugby this year in their local Toronto league, the Toronto District College Athletic Association.

The midtown Toronto school, at 1107 Avenue Rd., had both its senior men's and women's rugby teams win their respective playoff championships, with both qualifying for the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations provincial championships, which are slated to wrap up Friday, June 6.

The senior women's team won 15-0 over Scarborough's Cardinal Newman.

"It was much tighter a game than the score looked," said coach Rob Brohman, who spoke to The Mirror Tuesday, June 3, just prior to boarding a bus for OFSAA.

"It was only 5-0 at half and then 20 minutes into the second half we scored a second try to go up 10, and then we scored on the last play of the game to go up 15."

Brohman also coaches the senior men's team and their game - 17-14 in overtime to North York's Senator O'Connor - was as close as the score indicated.

Gordon Verok was an instant hero when he sailed a penalty kick through the uprights to break the 14-14 deadlock. He also converted trys by Simon Burke and Jahmar Speid.

The local school came through at the right time as they avenged two previous losses to Senator O'Connor, 28-14 and 17-10.

"I think we played better as a team, the guys understood what we were trying to accomplish on defence a lot better. We built for the playoffs - we do that every year," Brohman said.

The senior men's team seem to be establishing a strong local reputation in rugby with three Toronto District College Athletic Association titles in the last four years.

"But we've never been favourites, the three years we won, all three were upsets," he said.

While the Marshall McLuhan team may be gaining a reputation as a giant killer in Toronto, Brohman cautioned not to expect a David versus Goliath outcome at OFSAA, which is being played in Durham Region.

In fact, in almost unprecedented candor for a coach, when asked if his team has any chance to pull off the upset at OFSAA, he replied bluntly: "No ..."

For the opening game, he elaborated, "we're playing Brantford who's ranked No. 1 in the province and they're killing everybody ...

"I'm not being disrespectful to my team. It's just that team's very good."

The expected outcome against Brantford (which went beyond The Mirror's press deadline Thursday), can't take away from the fact that for his team it's been "a great year".

"They played with a lot of heart and courage. It was excellent."

In the senior women's playdowns in Ottawa, Marshal McLuhan, on paper at least, had a much easier opening matchup, drawing seventh-ranked Philip Pocock.

Marshal McLuhan's success at rugby made for a difficult decision for Brohman, given he's head coach for both teams.

In the end, he accompanied the senior women's team to Ottawa.

With the senior men's team is Jeff Ferguson, "another teacher and an alumni who played for me a few years back."