HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK

The high school spotlight will be on football this Saturday at 1 p.m. at Rocky DiPIetro Field when the St. Mary's Knights play the champions from Nipissing District for the senior division title. St. Mary's will be after their second NOSSA title in three years after winning the city crown last Friday, a 20-7 decision over the Sir James Dunn Eagles. The Dunn won city, NOSSA and the Central Bowl last year. The Knights will be putting an unbeaten season on the line Saturday. Playoffs included, St. Mary's is 7-0 this season. The Knights have an outstanding defensive team led by Aaron Amadio, Marty Fortino and Gary Knox. And they can mix it up offensively with a passing game featuring quarterback Anthony Amadio and receivers Joey Lamon, Andrew Ross and Jason Wysynski, to go with a running game led by Mark (The Bus) Palombi and speedy Adam Zuccato. Amadio has tossed 13 touchdown passes this season without an interception. GIRLS BASKETBALL There are five teams still chasing the final two playoff spots in the senior division of the girl's high school basketball league with this week and next remaining in the regular season. Only the St. Basil Saints, with a 9-0 record, and the St. Mary's Knights, who take a 7-1 mark into tonight's game with the Mount St. Joseph Royals, have clinched playoff spots. Meanwhile, heading into tonight's action, it's the Sir James Dunn Eagles at 4-5, the Bawating Braves at 3-5, the White Pines Wolverines and Mount St. Joseph both at 3-6, and the Korah Colts at 1-7. Unbeaten St. Basil remains the odds-on-favourite to win the senior division title for the first time in school history. Led by team-comes-first point guard Katie Hamilton, the inside scoring of Kaitlin DeBoer, the rebounding work of Heidi Jaaskelainen, and the transition play of quick guards Jenna Caicco and Melissa Stumpo, the Saints perform relatively mistake-free ball under the hawk eyes of head coach Eddie Green. On the junior side, St. Basil is alone in top spot with a 9-0 record, while the surprise team has been White Pines, which took a 4-5 record into play this week. The White Pines juniors won only two of 26 league games (playoffs included) the last two years but the program has done a turnaround this season led by the sister-brother coaching tandem of Wendy and Ray Basawa.