By Steve Hubrecht
The David Thompson Secondary School senior boys played in provincials last week, battling hard and proving their mettle as one of the better teams in British Columbia.
The Lakers came sixth at provincials, a strong result indeed for a rural East Kootenay school, and the boys played well throughout the tournament, despite frigid temperatures and constant rain, posting a record of three wins, one loss, and one penalty shootout loss.
Provincials were held in Burnaby from Wednesday, Nov. 7 to Friday, Nov. 9 and featured the 16 top single A seniors boys soccer teams (single A teams are from high schools with small student populations). The teams were divided up into four groups of four teams each.
The DTSS Lakers reeled off a 3-2 win over John Knox Christian School (from Burnaby) in their first group game, then a 5-0 pasting of King David High School (from Vancouver) in the second group game.
In the third and final group game, however, the Lakers fell 3-1 to Aberdeen Hall Preparatory School (from Kelowna). The Lakers lapsed a bit at the beginning of the third game and let Aberdeen take the lead, but later regrouped, scored and had a few close chances (including a shot that rattled off the crossbar). As the game wound down DTSS only trailed Aberdeen 2-1. The Lakers chased the game, throwing players forward in the hopes of scoring an equalizer. But pressing to attack inevitably entails leaving your defence exposed, a situation Aberdeen ruthlessly exploited to score once more, and put the game out of reach.
This meant the Lakers finished second in their group, and moved on to play a four-team elimination knockout playoff along with the second place teams from other groups to determine the fifth through eight spots at provincials. (The four teams first-place teams did the same to determine first through fourth place.)
Although the DTSS boys were disappointed they could no longer become champions, they continued to play as hard as they could. In their first knockout game, they dispatched Southridge School (from Surrey) 3-0. Then in their last playoff game, which determined fifth and sixth place overall, the Lakers and Queen Margaret’s School (from Duncan) fought to a 1-1 draw. A penalty shootout ensued and Queen Margaret’s edged DTSS 3-2 in the shootout.
Across the five games they played at provincials, the Lakers “really only played one bad half (of one game) of soccer,” coach Ryan Stimming told the Pioneer. “In the first half against Aberdeen, we made a few mistakes. But in the second half of that game and for the whole of every other game, we played quite well.”
Finishing sixth out of 16 teams at provincials is more than respectable for a team from the hinterlands, such as DTSS, and is even better when you look beyond the tournament and consider that their result in Burnaby means the Lakers finished sixth out of 54 single A schools across B.C.
Grade 12 David Thompson Secondary School student Leo Webster won a Super 16 award in Burnaby as the Lakers’ Most Valuable Player (MVP) at provincials.
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Grade 12 student Leo Webster won a Super 16 award in Burnaby as the Lakers’ Most Valuable Player (MVP) at provincials.
Leo plays as a central midfielder, where he pulls the strings for the Lakers, orchestrating play and communicating to all the different players, keeping them functioning as a cohesive unit.
“He’s a quiet leader. He doesn’t speak much, but when he does speak, he speaks with wisdom. He plays with heart. His leadership comes from his style of play and he allows that to do the talking,” Stimming said, describing Leo. “When the pressure is on, he says the right things to calm his teammates down and weather the storm.”
Stimming also pointed out that Leo is able to go forward and score big goals when needed, including a fabulous one-timer that opened the scoring when the Lakers played Southridge School.
“That really set the tone for the game,” said Stimming.
Leo’s mom Julie was delighted and proud of her son’s award.
“Ever since he was six years old, soccer has been his passion,” Julie told the Pioneer. Aside from playing soccer with the local Columbia Valley Youth Soccer Association as a youngster and with the high school team, Leo has participated in the Whitecaps Academy and Caps to College soccer programs in Cranbrook, as well as the Kootenay United football academy in Nelson.
But the long hours spend driving Leo to and from Cranbrook and Nelson were worth it, says Julie.
“He’s learned to persevere and keep working at things. That will translate to many other aspects of his life,” she said.