Cougars take home provincial gold

By Lethbridge Herald on December 1, 2025.

SUBMITTED PHOTO The Catholic Central Cougars varsity boys volleyball team pose with their first-ever provincial banner and plaque over the weekend in Fort McMurray.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The  # 1 provincially ranked Catholic Central Cougars varsity boys volleyball team were crowned  4A School Sport Alberta provincial champions after defeating Strathmore in the final three sets to two in Fort McMurray.

What made this victory significant for CCH’s varsity  boys volleyball program is it was the first provincial title in its history.

“It means a lot,” said Matt Hammel, Cougars head coach.

“I’ve had a couple of the boys since Grade 10, a bunch (of) others from last year and we’ve been just steadily improving as the years have gone on. So, yeah we were thrilled to close it out to cap off a really good season.”

Between regular season, zones and provincials CCH had a record of 35 matches won  and six matches lost and were the #1 ranked teamed for 4A schools in the province all season long.

Having dominant offence was key for CCH especially with setter  Dion Dudas leading the attack.

“This is his first year setting and he really took that in stride and ran our offence really well,” said Hammel.

Hammel saw Alex Ferreira, Pablo Hurtado and Gabriel Gouttin as phenomenal players all year too.

Hammel thought the team passed the best they had all year up until the final.

“We had a couple bad sets that we really struggled (in) but every time we had a bad set we’d pull it out (in) the next set,” said Hammel.

Hammel agreed it was good for the team to have a challenge throughout the provincial championship.

“With the power pools, we got to see some of the good teams early and Strathmore pushed us in round robin,” said Hammel.

“They took us to three (sets) but we beat them pretty handily in the third set.”

 Provincial host École McTavish gave the Cougars a challenge with their strong middles.

“They found a little bit of a hole in us for that round robin game and we ended up going to three with them,” said Hammel.

CCH also swept Hunting Hills in the round robin, Red Deer’s St. Joesph High School in the quarterfinals and Edmonton’s Memorial Composite High School in the semifinals to go undefeated in provincials.

“I think our program itself has established an identity over the last few seasons (in) that we are a good program and we will be competitive in those situations,” said Hammel, on what the program can build on for future seasons.

In other provincial championship volleyball action, the Coaldale Christian varsity boys team came third in the 1A provincials, the Immanuel Christian boys team came in third for 2A and the Immanuel Christian girls came second after losing to St. Carlo Acutis in the 2A girls provincial final.

Football provincials

The Cardston Cougars bowed to  the Holy Rosary Raiders 26-14 in the 3A high school football Alberta Bowl final on Saturday in Edmonton.