It took a bit of work and plenty of finagling, but the Moose Jaw high school soccer season is underway -- only with a much different look than past years.
On the boys side of things, the Central Cyclones return as two-time defending 4A provincial champions and are the lone single-school team from Moose Jaw in the league this season. That’s because the Peacock Tornadoes opted to form a combined team with the Riverview Royals and play under the Moose Jaw Boys banner.
The Notre Dame Hounds have also returned to the league, joining the Yorkton Raiders, Yorkton Sacred Heart Saints and Swift Current Colts in rounding out the six-team league.
On the girls side of things, the perennial 4A girls' title-contending Vanier Spirits are the lone single school team from Moose Jaw, with Peacock combining with Central to form the Moose Jaw Girls.
The Swift Current Ardens are the 13-time defending league champions, with the Yorkton Raiders, Weyburn Eagles and Yorkton Sacred Heart forming the six-team league.
“We got ‘er going, but it was a chore, let me tell you, because we weren’t sure which schools would be able to support teams. I’m on version 10 of the schedule, it’s almost been consuming my life,” Central coach and league scheduler Ray Rawlyk said with a laugh.
“So we’re just trying to make a go of it. The girls league has been struggling in Moose Jaw, but it’s strong in other centres, and there are girls coming up, especially though JJ Soccer. So in a couple years I imagine things will pick up and it’s important for us to hang on and give Moose Jaw players a chance to play whenever they can.”
Things wouldn’t have worked out as well as they did without a whole lot of accommodation by the coaches and teams, and Rawlyk was quick to point out that they made the process quite a bit easier.
“I’m getting a lot of support from Moose Jaw coaches, they’ve been really sympathetic about the changes and how things have been going, they’ve been a joy to work with,” he said. “And even outside of the schools, JJ Soccer helped out by giving me tips and Moose Jaw Soccer kind of saved the day, since their coaches are working with both the boys and girls Moose Jaw teams. So it really came together well.”
Action kicked off last week, with the two finalists from the girls league last season winning handily, as Swift Current defeated Moose Jaw 19-0 and the Raiders took an 8-0 win over Sacred Heart.
Boys league action saw Central fall 4-0 to Sacred Heart and take a 4-3 win over Moose Jaw, while Yorkton Regional defeated Swift Current 7-3 and the Colts rebounded with a 2-1 win over Notre Dame later in the week.
While the quest for a three-peat is the natural goal for the Cyclones, they have a much younger team than in past years and are aiming to learn on the job.
“Even though we have 33 players, they’ll be picking things up as they go,” Rawlyk said. “It all comes in waves, there’s an ebb and flow to everything, but we’re hoping we’ll be able to take a run at it in the end and we’ll see what happens.”
Here’s a rundown of league action coming up over the next week, with all Moose Jaw games played at the YaraCentre fields.
Saturday, Sept. 16
All games 12 p.m.
Moose Jaw boys at Yorkton Regional
Notre Dame boys at Yorkton Sacred Heart
Yorkton Regional girls at Weyburn
Monday, Sept. 18
Vanier girls at Swift Current Girls, 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 19
All games 4:30 p.m.
Notre Dame boys at Moose Jaw
Central boys at Swift Current
Wednesday, Sept. 20
All games 4:30 p.m.
Weyburn girls at Vanier
Sacred Heart boys at Yorkton Regional
