The St. Michaels University School Blue Jags survived the dreaded 2-0 lead, defeating the Kwalikum Kondors 2-1 in the final of the Island double-A senior boys soccer championship on a cool, windy UVic turf pitch on Tuesday.
Jamison Schulz-Franco and Ben Wingert scored goals early in each half and the defence cleared a ball off the goal line on a late Kwalikum corner kick as the Blue Jags outlasted the Kondors.
鈥淚t was a big-time win, especially after the 1-0 loss [to Highland Secondary on Monday]. It was great to come back and win this,鈥� said Schulz-Franco, who finished off an excellent cross from Dennis Siegrist in the ninth minute for the 1-0 lead. 鈥淚t was all him. He set me up right in front of the net.鈥�
Schulz-Franco then sent a left-footed chip toward Kondors鈥� keeper Nolin Fong鈥檚 net in the 46th minute. Fong stabbed the ball out of the air, but Wingert was on the spot for the easy tap-in.
Kwalikum鈥檚 Daniel Doukakis got one back when SMUS defender Ben Keep made an error on a back pass to keeper Jasper Bosley and Doukakis easily tucked it into the Blue Jags鈥� net.
The Blues Jags 鈥� last year鈥檚 provincial and Colonist Cup champions 鈥� were fortunate to get through to the final, courtesy of a 1-1 draw between Highland and Lambrick Park in the morning. A Highland win would have dropped SMUS down.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a good feeling to win. We had a tough first game when we just couldn鈥檛 score that goal. We bounced back the next game and scored five [against Lambrick Park],鈥� said Blue Jags coach Alex Redpath, whose team also downed Gulf Islands 3-1 on Tuesday morning.
鈥淭hat [Highland] tie against Lambrick allowed us to jump into first,鈥� said Redpath.
鈥淭hey say that 2-0 lead is the scariest lead in sport. We made that mistake, but as I told the guys, that happens in sport. I鈥檝e done it a number of times. [Bosley] was perfect after that and that鈥檚 what you ask for, how they bounce back after that mistake. The team rallied around him and that鈥檚 what you want,鈥� added Redpath, a former UVic Vike and Highlander.
Mark Isfeld defeated Highland 2-1 (4-2 on penalty kicks) in the bronze-medal game. All four teams advance to provincials, slated for Nov. 23-25 at Burnaby Lakes.
At the triple-A Islands in Nanaimo, Oak Bay defeated Reynolds 3-0 at Dover Bay as the two South teams captured the available spots for provincials, also slated for Burnaby Lakes on Nov. 26-28.
Eliot Cuthbert had two goals and Keaton Eccleston had the other, while Evan Carr kept the clean sheet in goal.
鈥淚t feels good,鈥� said Oak Bay coach Richard Fast, whose team was making its fourth straight appearance at Islands and won its third straight crown. 鈥淭he boys played well throughout the two days.鈥�
Meanwhile, the Glenlyon Norfolk School Gryphons claimed their seventh straight provincial championship over the weekend, defeating Southridge 5-1 in the single-A championship game over the weekend in Kamloops.
鈥淭hey played well,鈥� GNS coach Justin Parish said of his club, which now prepares for Colonist Cup quarter-final action on Thursday. 鈥淲e competed hard in every game and the semifinal was extremely close.鈥�
The Gryphons edged Credo Christian 1-0 in that matchup after posting 2-0 and 3-1 victories over Pemberton and Meadowridge, respectively. GNS had opened with an easy 9-0 win over Queen Charlotte.
Of the seven straight sa国际传媒 titles for GNS, six have come at the single-A level with one at double-A.
