By Steve Hubrecht
The David Thompson Secondary School (DTSS) senior boys soccer team won the Kootenay/Boundary zone championship this year on home turf in a dramatic penalty shootout.
The win was the culmination of two months of training for the DTSS boys, who participated in several tournaments throughout September and October. Their strong results in those tournaments meant they headed into the championship as the top-ranked single A boys team in the zone (single A schools are those with the smallest student populations).
By coincidental luck, it was Invermere’s turn to host the tournament this season (hosting rights rotate each year), so the DTSS boys played in front of a hometown crowd and they easily dispatched fourth-ranked Golden Secondary School (GSS) in the semifinal. But in the final they came up against a tough opponent in second-ranked Fernie Secondary School (FSS), and the match became a back-and-forth tussle.
Plenty of supporters came out to line the field and cheer on the DTSS boys in the see-saw match.
“There were quite a lot of fans. It was a great atmosphere,” DTSS boys coach Ryan Stimming told the Pioneer.
One team would take the lead, only for the other to claw back an equalizer. At the end of regulation time, the score was 2-2. After extra time, the two sides were still level, so the game came down to penalty shots to decide a champion.
Stimming had a trick up his sleeve, sending in Findlay Whittick as goalkeeper specifically for the shootout.
Findlay had lined up an outfield player for the majority of the final, but also has talent as a shot-stopper and the coach had a hunch Findlay could make a difference when it came to penalties.
“I do ask a lot of him (Findlay),” said Stimming with a chuckle.
The shootout began, but still FSS and DTSS could not be separated. Both teams scored each of their first four penalties. A FSS player stepped up to take his team’s last penalty shot. He slotted the ball low and to the left. But Findlay correctly anticipated where the player planned to shoot, dove to his right and made a huge save.
Now it was time for DTSS’s final penalty shot. Findlay was scheduled as DTSS’s fifth penalty taker, so switching roles once again, he strode out of the net, placed the ball on the penalty spot, stepped back and then lasered his shot into the back of the net, earning DTSS a 5-4 win in the shootout and zone championship along with it.
The spectators and fans on the sidelines erupted and “everyone stormed onto the field to celebrate,” said Stimming.
The boys championship makes a clean Kootenay sweep this calendar year for DTSS when it comes to soccer, as the DTSS girls team won the 2025 Kootenay/Boundary zone championship this past spring.
Having won the Kootenay/Boundary zone, the DTSS boys team headed to provincials held in Burnaby from Wednesday, Nov. 5 to Friday, Nov. 7. Last week and this week, team members have been trying to raise funds to cover the roughly $10,000 in travel and competition expenses incurred going to provincials.
Every contribution, big or small, makes a difference, outlined Stimming. To support the team, please email [email protected] for donation details.
Stimming noted that although the DTSS boys have been training together for just under two months, most of them have known each other and been teammates through the Columbia Valley Youth Soccer Association (CVYS), which he feels plays a vital role in developing local soccer talent.
He pointed out that CVYS also provides equipment, storage, and access to professional training clinics led by CVYS technical director Tom Smith for DTSS. Other support for the team came from Panorama Mountain Resort and Jaybird Media.