The YRHS Raiders boys' soccer team made the long journey to Swift Current on Friday hoping to make some noise in their first SHSAA soccer tournament of the season.
And they did just that, defeating Gladstone Avenue rival Sacred Heart 2-1 in penalties in the opening game of the tournament on Friday before crushing both the Estevan Elecs 6-0 and host Swift Current Colts 5-1 on Saturday to win the 'A' side title.
Yorkton derby
Friday's opening match was yet another chapter in the historic YRHS-SHHS rivalry; mere days after the two teams battled in an exhibition match that saw the YRHS walk away victorious 5-1.
Raider striker Matt McKee opened the scoring and it looked as if that would be all that was needed before Sacred Heart drew even in the last minute penalty kick goal by Ben Fetsch, meaning penalties were in order.
Sacred Heart was first to shoot, scoring on their opening shot. But the Regional quickly matched that effort as Spencer Steele beat Saints keeper Zack Shearer to draw even at one.
Sacred missed their second shot giving the Regional a chance to take the lead. Something they did thanks to the gifted foot of Haylen Langelier, meaning the Raiders could win if Sacred Heart missed their final penalty; something they did resulting in a 2-1 victory on penalties for the YRHS against their hometown rivals, sending the Saints to the 'B' side while propelling themselves to the 'A' side bracket.
However the Raiders victory on Friday was not as easy as the previous friendly victory, 5-1 over the same Saints, a week ago. "They almost always give us a good game," offered YRHS head coach Steven DeLong. "In my two years at the Regional we've always had close games with them so it's no surprise there and it could have gone either way.
"They always have a strong program there."
'A' side champs
Friday's win meant the Raiders were in the 'A' side bracket against fellow Day One winners, the Estevan Elecs and the host Swift Current Colts.
The Raiders took on the Colts in the first game of the day, silencing the partisan crowd early on en route to a 5-1 victory.
Matt McKee found the back of the net three times in the win while Cole Burkholder and Haylen Langelier also scored in the Raider victory.
The win meant that the Raiders held their fate in their own hands. A victory over Estevan in the final game would clinch the 'A' side title, while a loss would open up all sorts of possibilities for both the Colts and Elecs.
However the Raiders decided to not leave anything to chance, jumping all over the Elecs early on while pushing the pace all match long and suffocating them defensively for an easy 6-0 win and the 'A' side title.
McKee was his usual brilliant self, notching two more goals to bring his tournament total to six, while Spencer Steele also had a pair in the Game Three win.
Singles were added by Langelier and newly acquired Javier Hernandez.
However not everything was perfect for the Raiders this past weekend. Despite surrendering just two goals all weekend long the 'A' side champions played the entire tournament without an actual keeper, instead usually position players between the pipes for each game; a problem that head coach Steven DeLong needs to solve in the coming weeks should he want his team to compete for a Provincial title. "The only issue we have right now is that we don't have a goalie, but this tournament we got away with putting players in net," mentioned DeLong, continuing, "I think the boys have done a lot of asking around at the school for who is available but it doesn't seem like we're going to have one so I think it'll come down to whoever is the best player that can play at net and whether we can train them up to play net.
"The goal this year is to make provincials and we need a goalie to do that."
Keeper issues aside, DeLong feels as if his team is more than capable of competing for a Provincial title come late October, especially if McKee continues to fill the net and first year Raider Matthew Mandziuk continues to play strong on the defensive side of the ball.
Next action
The next action for the YRHS Raiders boys' soccer team will be Friday when they co-host their annual soccer tournament with the Sacred Heart Saints.
First game for the Raiders will be on Friday at 3:00p.m. when they host Kipling.
