With scads of high school team sports coming down the pike in the upcoming months, FH Collins Secondary and Ecole Emilie Tremblay have started the school year on the right foot.
The two schools beat other Whitehorse high schools to win division titles in the 2009 Yukon Junior High School Soccer Championships on Thursday and Friday at FH.
Ben and Alex Robinson gave their FH Warriors team a real leg up, each scoring a pair of goals in their 4-3 win over the Vanier Crusaders in the Grade 10/11/12 division finals.
“It was a nice back-and-forth game, so the kids really enjoyed themselves,” said FH coach Peter Mather. “It’s nice that the kids get to come out and play some competitive co-ed soccer.”
Vanier was poised to make a comeback late in the first half, shrinking a 3-0 FH lead to 3-2 with goals from another pair of brothers, Curtis and Brett Hills. However, before Vanier’s Walker Ewing scored the game’s final goal, Alex Robinson put his team back up by two, catching the inside of the left goal post to score 12 minutes into the second half.
“We were passing really well, but we just couldn’t get our finishes in very well—we just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net,” said Curtis. “We had a couple scrambles in the box, but we just couldn’t finish it. We tried to bring it in too deep.
“But our passing was good.”
Both teams advanced to the finals with wins over the two Porter Creek Rams teams, with the Warriors taking a 6-1 win over the Rams B team and the Crusaders winning 3-2 over the Rams A team. The Rams B team took third with a 3-2 shootout win over their classmates.
Rams give up
lead in 8/9 final
In soccer, it’s important players stay in position. However, that becomes complicated when there are players missing.
In the Grade 8/9 final the Porter Creek Rams managed to take a 1-0 lead at the end of the first half, but eventually lost 3-2 to Ecole Emilie Tremblay as Rams legs grew tired.
“We didn’t have any subs for this game and, in fact, we were short a player on the field,” said Rams coach Jordan Borgford. “The kids are bound to get a little bit tired out there and they played two great games today.”
Despite Tremblay’s significant advantage, a little luck didn’t hurt, said coach Dan Girouard.
“Our guys were scrambling at first, they weren’t organized on the field,” said Girouard. “Then we started using the field more and got our chances.
“They got their chances too, but we got lucky. They hit a post and missed the net a few times - it was just our day, I guess.”
Scoring for Tremblay was Etienne Gagnon and Felix Bouchard with two.
“Bouchard was a key player; he scored most of our goals and he led the team, pretty much,” said Girouard.
Putting the Rams on the board with both goals was Tanner Borsa, but the whole team contributed, said Borgford.
“It was his turn to show up today - everybody has contributed,” said Borgford. “It would be hard to pick (an MVP). I think I would do an injustice if I were to name anybody because I’m really proud with how they all played today.”
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com