The three-peat was sweet and included an MVP who chose a soccer ball over the oars that run in the family.
The Reynolds Roadrunners won their third consecutive sa国际传媒 boys’ Triple-A high school soccer championship with an assist from genes borrowed from rowing.
The Roadrunners defeated the Royal Bay Ravens 3-0 in the all-Island final Saturday at Burnaby Lake.
sa国际传媒 tournament MVP Tavin Williams, a dominating presence at centre-back for the Roadrunners, is the son of Olympic rowing medallists Barney and Buffy Williams.
Reynolds striker Nicholas Hallam scored five goals in five games to be named to the tournament first all-star team.
“Both [graduating seniors Williams and Hallam] will be U Sports-bound next season,” said Reynolds coach J.J. Atterbury.
Goals by Jude Riddell-Matte, Daniel Emery and a Ravens own goal accounted for the scoring in the championship game. Roadrunners goalkeeper Keigo Uchida, who allowed only one goal in five games, recorded his fourth clean sheet of the sa国际传媒 championship tournament.
“Our strong defence was the key to our success all season,” said Atterbury, citing the play of back-line standouts Williams and Matias Emery.
Reynolds was a powerhouse in the late 1970s and 1980s, but had to wait 50 years since the school’s founding to win the Roadrunners’ first sa国际传媒 soccer championship in 2016. They placed third in 2017 and have now won the sa国际传媒 title three times in succession in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
“It’s been a good run and we are enjoying it. It’s been exciting,” said Atterbury, who is assisted on the bench by Chris McDonald.
“We are very proud of the players. Five games in three days is a real grind but the boys held up and came through.”
The provincial championship concluded a season in which the Roadrunners edged Oak Bay 1-0 to win their fifth consecutive Colonist Cup Greater Victoria championship before beating Royal Bay in a shootout in the Island final.
Reynolds defeated the Vancouver College Fighting Irish in the sa国际传媒 semifinals while Royal Bay beat the Centennial Centaurs of Coquitlam 2-1 in extra time to set up the all-Island final.
