All season long, the Central Cyclones boys soccer team made a point of working on their team-wide endurance and stamina, all with the eye of being able to put their overall depth to good use when the games really mattered.
As it turns out, this weekend is when the games matter the most, and it looks like the Cyclones are firing on all cylinders.
Central scored six second-half goals and would go on to an 8-1 victory over Chief John Keenatch in the Saskatchewan High School Athletic Association 4A boys soccer semifinal at YaraCentre on Friday afternoon.
“I think we were a little hesitant at first, but it was a game of endurance, honestly,” said Cyclones head coach Holly McCorriston. “They played well and they played the whole game well and that’s how we won… They trained all season every day for that reason and it’s really nice to see it pay off.”
Patrick Pryadko and Landon Meacher scored in the first half, giving Central a crucial lead in their most important game of the season thus far. While it was good to be on the right side of the ledger heading into the break, knowing that Chief Keenatch was only a couple of breaks away from tying things up made things very interesting.
“Because of the nerves, a lead is so important and even a normal lead isn’t enough because you never know what can happen,” McCorriston said “And also for the confidence of the team as a whole, knowing that we can sub in our entire bench and have them play and still scoring goals. That’s a huge deal and makes a big difference for us.”
The two teams exchanged goals early in the second half -- with Idunu Afolabi scoring for Central and Jason Agecoutay for Chief Keenatch -- but as time wore on the field tilted decidedly in the Cyclones’ favour.
And it wasn’t long before the goals started coming fast and furious.
Pryadko finished the game with a pair, as did Afolabi and Makariy Pryadko. Her Kaw Htoo had Central’s other marker.
Of course, it would be remiss not to mention the conditions the game was played in. The tournament has been moved indoors at the YaraCentre from the adjacent Canada Games Fields, which remained covered in deep snow from the winter storm last weekend.
That made for a few strategy changes, but nothing that was of too much concern given the alternative.
“We had to adjust quite a few things because of that, the ball speed, the ceiling height and the heat, so that was noticeable at halftime for sure,” McCorriston said. “But I can’t complain, these were good problems to have and it was nice to be indoors.”
The Cyclones will face a very familiar foe in the gold medal game at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at YaraCentre.
Yorkton Sacred Heart -- who play in the Moose Jaw league and fell 4-0 to Central in the regional final last weekend -- defeated Martensville in the second semifinal.
Yorkton took a 5-0 lead out of the first half on a pair of goals from Waylan Smuk to go along with single markers from Nick Looft, Nathan Mushanski and Noah Wyatt. Wyatt also had Sacred Heart’s lone goal in the second half, Julian Moldon scored Martensville’s only goal after the break.
Martensville takes on Chief John Keenatch for bronze at 11 a.m. at YaraCentre.
