Warwick's St. Peter Canisius School is celebrating its recent win in the Grade 8 boys volleyball finals.
The school captured the local Catholic elementary championship with a victory over Sarnia's Gregory Hogan.
Coach Ben Murray said it's a great feeling, especially since most of the team was brand new to the sport.
"They were in Grade 5 when COVID hit and, before that, only one or two of them might have played junior," said Murray. "So, this was like a brand new sport to them. They really took a love to it. They watched videos on their own time, and rented out a gym to play together. They really started falling in love with the game, and a lot of them are probably going to continue with it in high school or even maybe contact Twin Bridges about it. They love it, they came together as a team and learned how to play the game right, and now they're volleyball fans."
Murray said the team consistently improved during the season, after starting out with a 2-4 record.
They went on a 9-0 run to make the playoffs, and defeated the unbeaten Sacred Heart team in the semi-finals.
"We're a county school where we only have 10 kids to actually play as opposed to the 600 kids at Gregory Hogan," he said. "It's just nice to see them get something like this. The county schools rarely ever beat those super schools so it's really exciting."
It's the first time a volleyball trophy has been handed out since 2019.
Ben Murray, Bryan Derush, Marco Desantis were the coaches.
The team was: Cooper Arts, Braxton Bryce, Blake Minten, Tanner Wilson, Tyler Van Lieshout, Brant Higgins, Landon Wade, Pim De Rond, Nathan Leyton, Aiden Timmermans