McNairn, Jarvis, Hartle, top athletes at Seaway High

The new Stay on Course pilot program coming to grade sixes and Morrisburg and Iroquois Public Schools this fall, is meant to be mutually beneficial to the students and to their adult mentors.

Officials administering the program and school officials gathered met last week at the McIntosh Inn to discuss the program, that everyone is excited to see get started in these two local schools.

“Stay on Course” will involve community members mentoring students in the game of golf, while students mentor community members in the use of technology.

The unique pilot project was created through a partnership between the Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) and Seaway Valley Crime Stoppers (SVCS). 

The program has received $30,000 in start-up funding from a federal government grant through the Eastern Ontario Development Program as part of Community Futures Development Corporations.

“This program promotes positive, proactive relationships,” said OPP Constable Peter Robertson, who came up with the concept and fostered the partnerships between all organizations involved.

“The other benefit is this is at no cost to parents,” he added. “This is a win-win situation for everyone. It’s partnership-run.”

“This game of golf will be used to highlight positive character attributes, as well as help students build confidence, self-esteem, leadership skills, decision-making skills, and relationships within their own community,” said Karen McDonald Hurley, who developed the eight week program which will run from September to October 2013.

The program includes six golf outings at local golfing facilities in Iroquois and Morrisburg, as well as online and school components.

While playing golf, students and mentors will have the opportunity to use iPads to not only learn about the game, but also to create videos and participate in additional online activities to increase overall learning.

Frank McDonald of Seaway Valley Crimestoppers said, “The Stay on Course program specifically proposes to engage the community through proactive activities. In addition to the pilot program which will allow these children to experience the game of golf, we have included program evaluation methods to track its success. As a result of this program, it is hoped both adults and students become positive contributors to their community and develop new relationships.”

“This exciting program meshes perfectly with our goal of a 90 per cent graduation rate,” said UCDSB Chair Greg Pietersma. “It is never too early to give our students additional skills and connections to help them stay connected and engaged in school. All of our students are one major incident away from being at risk.”

The team is currently looking to recruit volunteer mentors to participate in this program. Mentors would be required to spend approximately two to three hours per week with students. In addition, the team is accepting donations of starter sets of clubs for students to use.

Anyone interested in mentoring or donating a set of clubs, can contact Robertson at 613-534-2223, 613-360-0166 or peter.robertson@ontario.ca, or McDonald at fmcdonald4@bell.net.

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The South Dundas Bantam B Rep Lions charged back from an opening game 5-1 loss, with a 4-0 win here Monday night to even the UCMHL championship series against the South Grenville Rangers at two points apiece.

The championship series is a five point affair. Game three goes to Prescott tonight, Wednesday, March 25 (6 p.m.) and the series returns to Morrisburg, Thursday night, March 26 at 8 p.m.

The Lions had a tough start in Prescott, Sunday. They held the Rangers to a 1-1 first period tie, but that was it. The Rangers struck for three unanswered goals in the second period to carry a formidable 4-1 advantage into the third period, as they headed for the opening game 5-1 victory. 

Austin Selleck, Simon Watt, Jack Doris, Riley Hildebrandt and Tanner Thomson provided the Ranger goals.

Justin Shay collected the lone Lions goal assisted by affiliate Caleb Jaquemet and Grants Wells.

In front of a big crowd Monday night in Morrisburg, the Lions went to work on the 4-0 victory, with Sam Waytowich having a big game in net.

After a scoreless first period, Lucas Bennis stepped up in the second for a pair of counters for a 2-0, Lions lead. On the first goal, Grant Wells started a great passing play from behind the Rangers net to Kasper Furo who made a quick pass to Bennis out front.

Bennis scored the Lions second goal, unassisted, after fighting for possession of a rebound behind the Rangers net.

The Rangers turned it up to apply the pressure late in the second period, but big saves from Waytowich allowed the Lions to hold on to the comfortable two goal lead.

Lucas Bennis got the Lions third goal started midway into the third period with a pass to Oakley Beavers.  Beavers slid the puck to Dean Lapier whose blast from the top of the face off circle beat Rangers goaltender Tyler Watkins cleanly for a 3-0 Lions lead.

The fourth and final Lions goal was scored by Jonah Bennis, from Connor Dumoulin and Justin Shay, with 6:38 left in the game.

While that was the end of the scoring, it wasn’t the end of the excitement, as the Lions drew a minor penalty with more than four minutes left in the game.

That resulted in the South Grenville coach pulling Watkins for a two man advantage. The move was not successful but it did make Waytowich work a little harder for his shutout.

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Cedar Glen golfer, Kurtis Barkley shot a one under par 69 here Saturday, to successfully defend his Morrisburg Men’s Open title for the fourth consecutive year.

The 24 year old, Williamsburg golfer, who this year is playing out of both Cedar Glen and Upper Canada, recently qualified in the Chase the Dream event with a three-over-par 75 shot at Upper Canada.

At the qualifier he wasn’t satisfied with his putting, so he has since changed to a belly putter, and the results showed up in the 69 he shot at Morrisburg, on Saturday.

The Morrisburg course is experiencing major issues with several greens which made Saturday’s putting difficult for the 63 golfers.

“I had 31 putts today, which is below my average,” said Barkley who opened his round with a pair of bogies. Although the par five first hole is one of the troubled Morrisburg greens, Barkley said he couldn’t fault the green for the opening six. “It was actually a one-putt bogie,” he said with a laugh. The bogie four on the par three second hole, also not in good condition, was, however, the result of a three putt.

After that the talented young golfer charged back with three consecutive birdies to go to one under and that’s how he finished it on the front, with a one under 34.

On the back, Barkley stayed at one under until a three putt on the par five 15th pushed him to even.

He got the stroke back with a birdie on the par three 17th and finished the round at 69 for his fourth consecutive championship.

Next up in the 19-player A flight was Rob Kimmerly (Prescott) with a 73. Upper Canada golfer, Lance Lepage was third with a 74 and Matt Rochon was next at 75.

Morrisburg’s Kevin Duvall shot a 76 which gave him the A field’s low net with a 67, and Dave Saunders (Brockville) was next with a 77. The final two golfers to break 80, in A flight, were Peter Gilder (Brockville) and Brett Corlyon (Cornwall) with 79s.

Sixty-three golfers competed in three flights in this year’s men’s open.

The top shooter in B flight, for the second consecutive year, was Lee Beaupre (Morrisburg) with a 77. Last year Beaupre shot a 78 to tie for the top B flight position but lost in a playoff.

This year he took the title by a single stroke over Bruce Perrin of Prescott. The two were the only B flight shooters to break 80.

Coming in with an 80 for third place was Scott Hodgson of Morrisburg. Eric Wemerman, Morrisburg and Randy Mullin, Iroquois were next with 81s. Wemerman’s 81 gave him a net score of 63 for the flight’s low net win.

Greg Millard (Morrisburg) and Allan McNairn (Upper Canada) were next up, tied with 83s.

For the second consecutive year, a playoff was required to determine the C flight winner. Jason Broad and Dan McLelland, both of Morrisburg, shot 87s for the tie and the latter took the win in sudden death play.

Doug Warner (Morrisburg) was next up with an 88 and after that, the scores went into the 90s with Sean Boulerice and Steve Boucher (both Morrisburg) tied with 91s.

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