Athletics are alive at Brooks Secondary School after its senior boys’ soccer and junior girls’ volleyball teams competed in provincial championships.
The senior boys finished sixth in the province after winning three of their five games in the tournament. It was the first time in the school’s history for a senior boys’ soccer team to make the provincial championships.
Coach Tony Rice said the Thunderbirds won their first two games. They played against Prince George’s Duchess Park Secondary and won with a goal from Dan Mitchell. Next, they met Invermere’s David Thompson Secondary where they won again (2-0) with a penalty kick goal from Brody Harry and another from Billy Bagiopoulos.
In the quarter-final they met Langley’s Brookswood Secondary. The score was tied at one goal each at the end of the game, but the Thunderbirds lost to a penalty kick shootout.
In game four, the Thunderbirds met North Vancouver’s St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary and edged them out 2-1 in overtime with goals from Cullen Buhowler and Jared Shortridge.
They lost game five to Surrey’s Southridge Secondary. Again the score was tied but the Brooks team lost due to a penalty kick goal. Harry scored the Thunderbirds’ only goal in the game.
Rice described his team’s performance as “a phenomenal display of heart and effort,” and added they were “great representatives of their school and community.”
The team closed out the season with 11 wins, six ties and only two losses.
Brooks’ junior girls’ volleyball team travelled to North Delta to compete in the BC Junior Girls’ Volleyball Championships, November 21 and 22.
They placed 13 out of 24 in the tournament, a somewhat disappointing result for the team.
Doug Skinner, Aces’ coach, said the tournament started well, with victories over Burnaby’s Moscrop Secondary and Vancouver’s Little Flower Academy in round-robin play, but then were beaten by Kamloops’ Sa-Hali Secondary with its power offence. That loss put them second in their pool and meant they had to play a cross-over match against Surrey’s Lord Tweedsmuir. Tweedsmuir is a team which Skinner said he thought was probably the best team in their pool, but it had lost in an upset to Coquitlam’s Terry Fox Secondary.
“They were a really strong team like Sa-Hali,” said Skinner, “so we lost to them in two tight games. With that, the best we could do was 13th.”
In the second day of the tournament the Aces went undefeated against Seaquam Secondary, Vancouver Technical Secondary and Langley Fundamental.
Through watching the play of the other teams, Skinner said if the Aces’ luck had been better with the cross-over match, they should have placed either in fifth or sixth.
“We played brilliantly at times and I was really happy,” said Skinner. “It was just the luck of the draw.”
The veteran coach added that his team stayed to watch the tournament semifinal giving them a chance to see how they need to improve their play.
Aces players include: Kate Fisher, Lauren Mander, Claudia Piccinin, Tyana Sacree, Matilda Bertrand, Melinda Boyd, Maddie Yule, Katie Tuba, Chloe Elzer, Hope Lechner, Kayla Reed and Paige Lawson.
Aces qualified for the provincial tournament after finishing first in the Vancouver Island division.
