Centenaires beat Radars in game one of WOAA Senior AA final
BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN
The Seaforth Centenaires have struck first in the “Battle of Highway 8” as they take on the Clinton Radars in the Western Ontario Athletic Association (WOAA) Senior A.A. finals, which began on Saturday night in Seaforth.
The best-of-seven series began on Saturday night at the Seaforth and District Community Centre and it was the home team that came away with the victory by the slimmest of margins, by a score of 1-0.
The series continues this weekend, with game two going ahead on Friday, March 25 in Clinton at the Central Huron Community Complex and game three back in Seaforth the following night on Saturday, March 26.
Game four is scheduled for April Fool’s Day, Friday, April 1 in Clinton. If necessary, game five will be on April 2 in Seaforth, game six will be on April 8 in Clinton and game seven will be on April 9 in Seaforth. All Seaforth home games begin at 7:30 p.m., while the start time for the Clinton home games is 8:30 p.m.
The Radars made their way to the finals through the Ripley Wolves, defeating them in five games in the semifinals.
Clinton won the first two games of the series by scores of 5-2 and 3-2, respectively, but lost game three by a score of 4-1. They battled back the following weekend, however, winning game four by a score of 3-2 and game five by a score of 5-1, launching them into the finals.
That came after a best-of-seven quarterfinal series against the Minto 81’s that went the distance.
The Radars lost game one of that series in overtime by a score of 4-3. They won game two by a score of 5-4 and then lost game three by a score of 6-2.
Game four went to overtime and the Radars came up just short, losing by a score of 4-3, but the locals would roar back, winning the final three games and the series, topping Minto 5-2 in game five, 4-3 in game six and 4-1 in game seven.
The Seaforth Centenaires defeated the Tavistock Royals in their semifinal series, taking just five games to do so.
The Centenaires won game one by a score of 4-2 and then defeated the Royals by a score of 4-3 in game two. Seaforth would lose game three 4-2, but come back strong in games four and five with 7-4 and 2-1 wins.
The team faced the Durham Thundercats in the quarterfinals, also triumphing in five games.
Seaforth lost game one by a score of 5-4. However, they would win the next four games to take the series by scores of 3-2, 5-2, 4-2 and 2-1 to claim victory.
For more information or to track the teams’ progress, visit the Clinton Radars at clintonradars.com or the Seaforth Centenaires at centenaires.ca.