Wildcats sweep to WOSSAA title  

   Brushes aside Mitchell for junior boys volleyball gold

  November 14, 2025

By Rob J. Ross

WEST LORNE, Ont. -  The atmosphere was set for a celebration and West Elgin Wildcats did not disappoint.

In front of a full house decorated with posters, signs and purple balloon covered arches, the Wildcats captured the Western Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association (WOSSAA) 1-A junior boys volleyball title, defeating the Mitchell Blue Devils, November 13 at West Elgin secondary school.

"It was nice to see a complete team effort and everybody was contributing and contributing well," Wildcats coach Dave Burke said. "We have a starting six or seven that we tend to use more often than not, but the other guys on the bench have played a lot of volleyball too and they're quite capable of scoring. Today, they all got an opportunity and they played great. They didn't seem nervous and stepped in and played."

West Elgin never trailed in the final, sweeping the best of five game series, 25-14, 25-15, 25-14.

"We went on a lot of serving runs which really made a difference in the points. We cheered hard after every point. I think that's beneficial to our team," Wildcats' co-captain Jaxon Galloway said. "Our offence. We hit and our setting was really good. On defence, we covered tips and dug up hard hit balls."

A week earlier West Elgin took down London Christian in the Thames Valley Regional Athletics (TVRA) Central division 1-A final. Both teams, with not meeting during the regular season, finished with 8-0 match records in the tier two division.

"That was absolutely the toughest match of the year," Burke said. "It was intense and such a challenge. There were some great swings that game. Big hits and some big blocks and it was real good junior volleyball."

The Wildcats took the match, three games to one, 19-25, 27-25,25-22,25-16.

"They came back and beat us in the first set. They beat us on a serving run of five or six serves," Burke said. "The next couple of games, they took leads of four or five points, but we always felt we were capable of coming back. We just picked away at the lead and turned it on at the end of each set."

West Elgin dusted Mgr. Bruyere in three straight games in the semifinals.

Game of the season belonged to a visit the Montcalm Cougars.

"The best match in terms of most fun and energy was at Montcalm," said Burke. "They had an amazing group of kids that were so high on energy and they had fans out cheering chants. You wouldn't have believed it was a regular season match, by the intensity level in it. That kind of got us ready for a playoff atmosphere."

Montcalm was one of just two teams to take a game from West Elgin over the regular schedule. John Paul II was the other, both taking one while down two games.

"Serving has been a strength because all of the guys serve tough. That makes it hard for teams to generate any offence against us," Burke said.

Much of the team moves up to senior next year and the Wildcats do eye an OFSAA appearance as a goal.

A majority of the Wildcats also play club volleyball with the West Lorne Warriors. Prior to WOSSAA, the Warriors placed fifth at a Provincial Cup tier tournament in Leamington.

At senior WOSSAA, London Mgr. Bruyere took the gold medal over Wingham Madill, while St. Marys DCVI defeated the Voaden Vikings, for the bronze medal.

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