This was supposed to be building year for the D.P. Todd Trojans.
Nobody expected them to do what they did last week when they ended an 11-year drought and knocked off the heavily-favoured College Heights Cougars to capture the high school boys City League championship at the Northern Sport Centre.
Now, no matter what happens in this week’s North Central zone tournaments, the Trojans own bragging rights for the year knowing they get to wear the city crown after a 63-54 win over the Cougars in Tuesday’s final.
That was an upset, as was their 79-69 win over the Prince George Polars in the semifinal round.
“We came into both games as underdogs, we actually didn’t beat College Heights all season long, and we played them three times,” said Trojans head coach Randy Sandhu.
“In the city final the boys just really wanted it and it was a great game,” said Sandhu.
“Our leading scorer (Matthew Stubley) got into foul trouble pretty early in the game and we didn’t want him to fouled out so he had to sit for most of the game. Jake and Markus, our young guys really stepped up.”
Markus Sale and Jake Samis – both Grade 11s – each came up with 20-point games in the final.
D.P. Todd last earned the City League banner in 2014 and they made it to the final in 2018 and 2019, both of which ended in losses to Duchess Park.
The Trojans are the top seed when they host to this weekend’s five-team double-A North Central zone tournament.
Stubley, a Grade 12 veteran has been a mainstay for Trojans as their most consistent scorer and he regularly contributes 25 points per game.
He's in the starting five with Sale, Samis, Urijah Zorowski and big man Logan Slater.
Stubley, Vic Tan and Peter Macneil are the only Grade 12s on the team. The other D.P. Todd players are Mewrlvin Guiller, Ethan Castley, Andrew Bertrand and Dustin Jones. Colburn Pearce, Cayle Davidson and Colton Meehan are the assistant coaches.
“Most of our lineup is Grade 11 except Matthew,” said Sidhu.
“Because our team’s so young this year we wanted to keep it very local to develop our team a bit. We did go to Kamloops a couple weeks ago for the Sa-Hali tournament and we came first in that. But provincially we haven’t been ranked.
“We did beat Prince Rupert (Charles Hays Rainmakers) a couple weeks ago and they’re ranked as honourable mention (among double-A teams in BC). Next year will be more of a provincially-focused season.”
The zone tournament games start Thursday. The Trojans will be on the court at 8 p.m. to play the winner of the Lakes District-Peter Skene Odgen (100 Mile House) game that starts at 1 p.m. The Shas Ti Kelly Road Grizzlies take on the Nechako Valley Vikings of Vanderhoof at 6:15 p.m.
Sandhu said whichever team advances to the 16-team double-A provincial tournament March 5-8 in Langley is likely to be ranked anywhere from 13th to 15th.
While they own the City League banner, Sandhu said there’s only a fine line that separates them the Trojans from the rest of the best in the North Central.
“All season long for the boys this is probably the tightest that Prince George basketball’s been in probably over 10 years,” said Sandhu. “I played myself six years ago with D.P. Todd and there was a definitive 1-2-3 and that how it’s been for 10 years. But this year it’s wide-open and any team can beat any team any given night.
“Naturally everyone ranked College Heights and PGSS 1-2 this year and rightfully so, they were always in the finals of any tournament in town. It’s going to be a good tournament this weekend and we feel comfortable going in and the boys will be ready to play.”
Duchess Park, Fort St. James also hosting zone tournaments
The Duchess Park Condors will be right at home this week for the four-team triple-A zone championship starting Thursday afternoon.
Top-seeded College Heights opens the four-team tournament Thursday at 5 p,m. against the Lake City Falcons of Williams Lake. The second-ranked Duchess Park Condors face the Correlieu Clan of Quesnel at 6:45 p.m.
Fort St. James Secondary School is hosting the single-A zone tournament. The third-seeded Cedars Christian Eagles open against No. 6 Fraser Lake Cougars Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
The Northside Christian North Stars of Vanderhoof are the top seed.
The Prince George Polars captured the quad-A zone title with two weekend wins on home court over North Peace. The Polars won 105-97 on Friday and celebrated the title with a 99-71 triumph on Saturday.
Coached by Nick Novak, the Polars will represent North Central at the quad-A championship in Langley, March 5-8.
The Shas Ti/Kelly Road Grizzlies won the junior boys North Central zone tournament, defeating Duchess Park in the final.
The 26th-ranked Grizzlies will be in Langley this weekend for the BC Junior Boys High School Championship and they’ll start Saturday at 11:30 a.m. against No. 7 New Westminster Hyacks.
The Condors, ranked 31 out of 32 teams, play No. 2 St. Patrick Celtics of Vancouver Saturday at 11:30 a.m.
