Jonas Emilsson
www.krammag.com

It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.

That old saying, a cliche if you will, is well known in the world of sports, and it was front and centre during the final of the senior boys’ Div I championship final on Saturday night at the Jack Simpson Gym in the University of Calgary.

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The No. 1 ranked Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs narrowly avoided being upset by the No. 2 ranked Bishop Carroll Cardinals, squeaking out a 3-0 (22-25, 27-25, 20-25, 25-20, 15-13) victory.

The win secured a perfect season for the Bulldogs, who came into the game undefeated during regular season play.

The Bulldogs and the Cardinals have had a healthy rivalry running all season, with both teams getting the upper hand during meeting during the regular season and tournament games.

“We have had great games against them all year long and battled back and forth, we’d beat them and they’d beat us, but we just happened to beat them at the right time,” said Bulldogs’ head coach Tim Clack.

But Saturday’s duel was for all the marbles, and the added pressure was evident in the early going as both teams struggled to get into a sustained rhythm.

The Cardinals jumped out to a 14-10 lead thanks to terrific hitting by power hitter Quentin Schmidt and right-side hitter Connor Frehlich.

With the Cardinals threatening to run away with the opening set Clack called a timeout in an attempt to compose his players.

The strategy worked, at least temporarily, as the Bulldogs eventually narrowed the score to 22-20.

But two errors by the Bulldogs gave the ever-important opening set to the Cardinals.

“Both teams did not play as good as they should have in the first game or two,” said Clack. “It took both teams two games to get the nerves out and they both played so tight that they were making some mistakes.”

The Cardinals rode their momentum into the second set, eventually building up a slightly comfortable 13-9 lead.

Sensing his team was struggling to find their game, Clack called his second timeout of the game in an attempt to right the ship.

This time the message was received by the players.

Middle hitter JR Hammond and power hitter Taylor Lebo starting to find their offensive range, which gave the rest of the team some of their previously missing swagger back.

The Bulldogs rallied to a 23-21 lead, but the Cardinals again found a way to put some points on the board, and eventually squared the set at 24 points a piece.

But the Bulldogs dug down deep and eventually won the set on a terrific stuff by Hammmond on Frehlich, the Cardinals’ most dangerous hitter.

But Frehlich got his revenge several times over in the third set.

The dynamic hitter was a beast at the net, converting on numerous kills to lead the Cardinals to a third-set win.

Just one set away from losing the city championship, the Bulldogs adjusted their rotation in an attempt to slow down Frehlich and to find a way to free up some of their own big hitters.

The adjustments worked as Hammond, Lebo and middle hitter Lucas Falcione suddenly found themselves consistently putting up points with big kills.

Right-side hitter Will Bremner was also huge for the Bulldogs scoring points with his deadly jump serve that left the Cardinals defenders baffled on several occasions.

“We adjusted throughout the game based on how they were hitting, where they were hitting our defense,” said Clack. “Their coach adjusted their rotation so we adjusted our rotation trying to match up certain guys.”

The fourth set win by the Bulldogs set the stage for an exciting fifth-set finish.

The Bulldogs rode the momentum they gained in the fourth set into the fifth set and jumped out to a 11-5 lead, but the Cardinals refused to hand the Bulldogs an easy victory.

Instead they rallied and closed the scored to 13-12.

But the rally fell short as the Bulldogs again found a way to swing the momentum their way when it mattered the most.

“Everyone just stepped up and it brought us through to the Gold medal,” said Hammond, a grade-12 student who plays his club ball for Elite West. “We always kept our minds up, kept it positive and that’s what got us through it.”

“It’s unreal. We knew it was going to be one of our toughest matches today against Carroll, they’re our number-one rival.”

The Bulldogs will enjoy their win for a few days before beginning their preparations for next week’s Provincials tournament.

“It’s going to be even tougher at the Provincials because there are some top teams there from Grand Prairie, Edmonton and LCI from Lethbridge, so it’s not going to get any easier from here,” said Hammond.