Another chapter went down in the ongoing saga between the Duchess Park and D.P. Todd secondary sports teams Saturday night.
The two schools senior boys basketball teams faced off in the final of the Trojan Wars 2013 tournament held at D.P. Todd with the visiting Condors emerging with a 77-68 win.
Garret Hill, a post player for the Trojans, said whether it’s soccer, volleyball or basketball the rivalry between the two schools is always heated.
“I play with guys on the Condors in soccer and they’re my buddies but when it comes to school rivalry it’s intense and you don’t want to lose,” said Hill.
The Condors also triumphed over the Trojans in the annual Condor Christmas Classic, coming from behind to earn a three-point victory on the last day of school before the holiday break.
Despite the Condors apparent superiority on the hard court, Hill said when it comes to the soccer pitch the roles are reversed.
“We beat Duchess in the zone soccer finals,” said Hill. “It goes from sport to sport and it’s really intense, you just get that hate for each other from playing them so many times.”
Before meeting in their second consecutive basketball final, the Condors and Trojans rolled into the final with 2-0 records. The Condors opened with a 79-22 win over the Kelly Road Roadrunners before dispatching the Correileu Clan (Quesnel) to the third-place game with a 73-51 win.
Meanwhile, the Trojans opened with a 89-45 win over the Houston Christian Wildcats before knocking off the PGSS Polars 66-51.
Trojans post Pontus Waara said he enjoyed the game against the Polars a lot more.
“The first game, I didn’t think was too much competition, but this one [versus PGSS] was definitely a better game and more fun to play,” said Waara.
Unfortunately for the Trojans’ Swedish import his tournament ended with the semifinal win.
“I went up for a block and came down on someone’s foot and rolled my ankle, I think I’m not sure yet,” said Waara, before heading to the hospital for an X-ray.
The Clan finished third in the tournament after beating the Polars 68-58 while the College Heights Cougars took fourth place with a 71-47 win over the Wildcats. The Polars wound up fifth and the Wildcats in sixth place.
In the seventh-place game, Smithers pulled away from the Roadrunners in the second half to emerge with a 44-25 win.
Montell Lindgren of the Condors was named tournament MVP while his teammate Luke Holmes was the top defensive player. The first-team all-stars were, Manni Dhemi (Trojans), Nathanial Pawluk (Condors), Sean Gaiesky (Trojans), Holmes (Condors) and Cole Crick (Clan).
The second-team consisted of, Nick Novak (Polars), Lucas Badial (Cougars), Owen Delege (Wildcats), Mike Moiris (Smithers) and Ty Jocko (Roadrunners).
