The Oak Bay Bays and St. Michaels University School Blue Jags will play hosts to the Island triple-A and double-A senior boys鈥� soccer championships beginning today, but you can excuse both clubs if they鈥檙e not feeling overly hospitable.
Oak Bay carries the South No. 1 seed in the six-team triple-A event, which will produce two teams that advance to the Nov. 23-25 provincials in Burnaby. The Bays are situated in a pool with North No. 2, the Cowichan Thunderbirds, and South No. 4, the Claremont Spartans.
North No. 1 Dover Bay will compete along with South No. 2, the Reynolds Roadrunners, and South No. 3, the Royal Bay Ravens.
Reynolds is the defending Lower Island league, Colonist Cup, Island and provincial champion. The Roadrunners and Bays tied 1-1 in their league meeting a month ago.
鈥淚t was a close game, two evenly matched teams,鈥� said Oak Bay co-coach Richard Fast, noting Reynolds won four titles last year, when they were undefeated.
鈥淚t would be a challenge if we meet them again, but we first have to get through Cowichan, which I hear is a good side,鈥� he said.
鈥淎nd Claremont works extremely hard and is well coached by Adam Ravenhill, so we can鈥檛 look past them at all.鈥�
Dover Bay, coached by former national team player Ian Baird, also will be competitive, said Fast, which is not lost on Reynolds coach J.J. Atterbury.
鈥淲e鈥檙e looking at it optimistically and positively,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got our work cut out for us in that we have Royal Bay, which is a talented group, and then we have Dover Bay, which is usually strong. So we have our work cut out for us and, hopefully, our boys will be up for it.鈥�
Weather could factor in.
鈥淚鈥檝e never been a weather watcher. I鈥檓 sure it will be a little cold, but we鈥檙e on turf. I used to play on gravel at Beacon Hill, so 鈥�,鈥� Fast said with a chuckle.
The host Bays would love nothing more than to get back to the provincials, after finishing third behind Reynolds and Argyle.
鈥淲e鈥檒l have to play well to go through, but it would be an honour to make the final and go back to provincials,鈥� Fast said. 鈥淚鈥檝e had real strong teams come up short, and I鈥檝e had teams that I didn鈥檛 expect to go through, get there. It would be disappointing if we didn鈥檛, but I know Cowichan and Claremont will have something to say about it, too.鈥�
Oak Bay opens on its home pitch against Claremont at 10 a.m. while Reynolds meets Royal Bay at Lochside turf. Remaining games follow at 12:30 and 3 p.m. on both pitches, with the pool victors meeting Thursday at 2 p.m. in the championship game at Oak Bay. The bronze game also starts at 2 p.m. at Lochside.
Meanwhile, the double-A tournament will feature eight teams at Braefoot and Hampton Park fields.
Pool A includes North 1 Carihi, South 2 Stelly鈥檚, North 3 Brooks and North 6 Gulf Islands while South 1 SMUS heads up Pool B with North 2 Brentwood College, North 4 Mark Isfeld and North 5 Kwalikum.
The SMUS Blue Jags will face Kwalikum at 11 a.m. at Hampton and then Mark Isfeld at 2 p.m. at Braefoot. Stelly鈥檚 faces Brooks at 9:30 a.m. at Braefoot before moving to Hampton to challenge Gulf Islands at 12:30 p.m.
The tournament continues Thursday beginning at 8:30 a.m., with the championship game slated for 2 p.m. at Braefoot and bronze match at 1:30 p.m. at Hampton. The top three teams advance to provincials in Burnaby, Nov. 20-22.
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