In a major turning point of Friday’s semifinal game, the goalkeeper for Sacred Heart School pulled down CBHA’s Will MacLellan in the six-yard box. And as karma would have it, MacLellan scored on the new goalkeeper two minutes after play resumed. His goal would prove to be the game-winner.
-by Bill Dunphy
To complete an undefeated season, you have to win the Big Game, and the Cape Breton Highlands Huskies did just that on Saturday in Cheticamp.
The Huskies scored twice in the first half and then held on for a 3-2 win over the co-op team of Colchester Christian Academy and École Acadienne de Truro to capture the School Sport Nova Scotia Division 3 boys soccer crown.
The Huskies, which are also a co-op team combining Cape Breton Highlands Education Centre Academy and École NDA, had to move the four-team tournament to the NDA field due to draining issues at the Terre Noire field.
As it turned out, the Huskies could have played their matches in a farmer’s field and still prevailed.
The talented group, which included nine grade 12s and eight international students, came together in a way a coach can only hope for.
“I think the experience of losing in the provincial final two years ago stayed with a lot of these players,” said Huskies coach Billy Crowley.
“They know firsthand how difficult it is to get to that stage, and how disappointing it can be to come so close. I believe that experience helped shape their determination and commitment this season.”
He added, “There was a real sense of unfinished business among the returning players, and I think that translated into a level of focus and maturity that carried throughout the year. To see them return to that same stage and come away with a championship is incredibly rewarding, especially knowing how much work they’ve put in to get here.”
Jace Bishop put the Huskies up 1-0 at the 22-minute mark of the first half, taking a nice lead pass from Giorgio Fomia and making the CCA/EAT follow him to the right before striking a nice shot to the left side of the net.
Fomia, who runs like a gazelle, made it 2-0 eleven minutes later, beating a defender and the keeper to a ball at the top of the 18-yard box then swinging wide for an easy shot into an open net.
The game got a little more tense in the second half when CCA/EAT scored in the 70th minute. An unmarked man on the right wing got in alone on Huskies keeper Brydan MacLean to score a nice goal.
MacLean got his revenge three minutes later, sending a nice through-ball up the middle of the field to Fomia, who once again out-paced a defender to score on a low drive.
Up 3-1, the clock couldn’t tick any slower as CCA/EAT kept pushing. And in the 89th, a bad tackle by a Huskies defender in the 18-yard box earned them a penalty kick, scoring to get within one.
The ref added four minutes of stoppage time but the Huskies managed to keep the play out of their end until the final whistle.
Fomia, who hails from Monza, Italy, said the experience of bonding with his teammates was special.
“Everyone fought hard to make this happen. It is truly very different from what I was used to in Italy. The concept of school sports was new to me,” he said.
Raphael Malchow, who wore the captain’s armband, is from Hamburg, Germany, where school sport is also nonexistent.
“Being the captain was a big responsibility, but I like to be there for my team. Being here was a great opportunity and to win this championship was a dream come true,” he said.
The Huskies reached the final by defeating Sacred Heart School, of Halifax, in a wild semifinal match on Friday.
For starters, Sacred Heart took the lead 10 minutes in on a penalty kick.
Then, 20 minutes after that, Will MacLellan had the Sacred Heart goalkeeper beaten inside the six-yard box and was clearly about to score when the keeper tackled him to the ground.
After a short discussion between the referee and the linesman, the ref showed the keeper a red card, meaning he had to leave the game and putting the team down to 10 players.
With a bench player now in the goal, Markel Ayerdi scored on the ensuing penalty kick.
The Huskies knew they had to test the new keeper again right away, which, as karma would have it, MacLellan did. The keeper, making a bad kick off the side of his boot, sent the ball straight to MacLellan who calmly fired a slow roller into the back of the net to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead in the 40th minute.
In the second half, the Huskies thought they scored an insurance goal in the 58th, but it was ruled offside.
The insurance goal came in the 78th minute when MacLellan tipped the ball from the right post to the left where Ayerdi scored his second of the match.
Sacred Heart was awarded a penalty kick at the 82-minute mark but the shot went off the crossbar and out, and the Huskies shut the opponents down for the remaining time for the 3-1 win.
“It was pretty awesome,” MacLellan said on scoring the winning goal.
“But I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my teammates. It was a big weekend for all of us.”
Coach Crowley applauded the effort and commitment the team displayed all season.
“To finish the season undefeated is a tremendous accomplishment, and it’s a testament to the commitment and work ethic of this group. We scored 45 goals this season, but I think our success was really built on our defensive discipline and our willingness to work for one another,” he said.
“We had players who understood that doing the little things well, even when they weren’t necessarily reflected on the scoresheet, was what made us successful.”
Crowley agreed that time slowed down in the final minutes and in the celebration afterwards.
“Those final five minutes felt excruciatingly long. As a coach, you’re counting down the seconds, hoping that the game plan holds together and that all the preparation and hard work pays off. But when that final whistle finally blows, you almost forget about the game itself.
“You just stand back for a moment and watch the players take it all in. You see the excitement, the relief, and the pride on their faces, and you realize that some things are bigger than soccer. Those are the moments you coach for, and the ones these young people will remember long after they’ve played their last game.”