The Yorkton Elementary Schools Sports Association held their girls and boys' basketball championship tournaments on April 22-24.
Seven teams for both girls and boys took part in the tourney: Dr. Brass, M. C. Knoll, Columbia, Yorkdale, St. Paul's, St. Mary's, and St. Al's.
In the end, it was an M.C. Knoll vs. Yorkdale showdown for both genders. The M.C. Knoll boys edged the Yorkdale boys 36-32 and the Yorkdale girls topped the M.C. Knoll girls 18-15 in the championship games.
Yorkdale head coach Jason Boyda couldn't be prouder of his two squad's performances.
"It was a pleasure for us coaches to coach such a great group of girls this season," said Boyda."It was nice to see their hard work pay off against a very talented MC Knoll team in the YESSA Championship. Proud to say our Lady Royals are back-to-back YESSA Champions."
"Hats off to M. C. Knoll on an outstanding final, they made key shots at key times. In addition, we turned the ball over on a few error passes, which they capitalized on. I'm proud of the way our Royals played just too bad a few bounces didn't go our way, but overall a great season with a bunch of great kids."
M. C. Knoll head coach Mark Schendel, meanwhile, was thrilled with his boys' complete effort.
"Going into this year I knew we would have to do more in terms of preparation to match his squad," he said. "We narrowly beat them in the regular-season and we were fortunate enough to make a few more buckets than them to capture this year's title."
"We truly play as an entire unit. All players on our roster were contributors for us. We were a deep and talented team."
Mathew Mandziuk especially impressed the M.C. Knoll head coach.
"Our point guard, Matthew Mandziuk, had a tremendous final. He was especially clutch at the end of the contest. We were up one possession and he was shooting free throws with little time left. He canned both from the charity stripe and put us up for good."
Humble and modest, Schendel gave huge praise to Yorkdale's basketball program.
"I give a great deal of credit to Yorkdale's coach, Jason Boyda, in the thee years that he has been there he has built an amazing program. I truly feel he has set the bar for the rest of us. In last year's final we were a large underdog and would need a number of breaks to go our way to achieve our ultimate goal."
