After Tuesday's HCAA final at Corpus Christi, a clash between two North Oakville powerhouses is set to occur on Friday afternoon.
Iroquois Ridge has been absolutely dominant this season, smashing several opponents by more than 30 points in the lead-up to this Halton Final. On Dec. 20, they took down North-Oakville HSSAA rivals Abbey Park 89-44.
Then after the winter break, they faced a challenging game against Georgetown, where they were able to sneak out with a 1-point victory in a 46-45 battle.
Oakville Trafalgar was next to fall to the Trail Blazers 67-40, and then it was Frank Hayden getting rinsed 34-74 at the hands of "The Ridge."
The playoffs proved to be a touch more challenging for Iroquois as they beat Garth Webb by 4, 52-48 in the Semi-Finals, and then won 64-61 in the HSAA Final last week.
Head coach John Armstrong said, "They're both really good teams," but, in each game, the final score looked slightly closer at the end than it should have been.
Armstrong lamented, "We were up 15 points in the 4th quarter in both games, and the ref got a little bit looser with the whistle. They pressed, and we didn't handle that ideally."
Iroquois has played stellar defence all season long, averaging a HSAA best 42 points against while putting up the third most points for, averaging 65.3.
Holy Trinity should present a good challenge for the Trailblazers, as they have been on an absolute tear as of late.
In the HCAA Semi-Final, the Titans were able to get revenge on St. Thomas Aquinas, who handed them their first loss of the season on Dec. 19, and then on Tuesday, they clawed their way back from a 10-point deficit in the first quarter to beat the HCAA West-Division leaders Assumption 68-59, in the HCAA Final.
Titan's head coach Andrew Saulez was ecstatic with his team's performance on Tuesday, especially considering Assumption was able to rush out to a 10-2 lead to start the game.
"I honestly just couldn't be more proud of the fact that they didn't go away, and they just stayed with it the whole way through."
The Titans averaged 54.91 points during the regular season and gave up 46.5 per game during the regular season.
Defending is where both sides pride themselves; Saulez thinks Tuesday was the first time his squad had surrendered 25 points in a quarter all season. "I think that's the difference. It's been our staple all year. It's to defend hard."
Iroquois Head Coach John Armstrong has a slight advantage in this game, having been able to scout Titan's scoring threat Amare Hamilton at the club basketball level. He's the teammate of his son Andrew, who is a team captain at The Ridge.
John speaks highly of Hamilton, saying, "He really attacks; he's a really good player."
Beyond that, the two teams are coming into this one blind, as they haven't played each other during their respective seasons or at any tournaments.
If Armstrong's memory serves him right, his boys have never lost a home game in their high school basketball careers and plan to keep it that way.
"The boys are focused on the goal of advancing past this round, and that's the extent of it."
Today's game will be at Iroquois Ridge with a 3:30 p.m. tipoff.
The winner will play St. John Henry Newman of Hamilton on Monday.
King's Christian College will also play on Monday in the GHAC AA Final against St. Mary of Hamilton. Tipoff will be 3:15 p.m.