The Reynolds Roadrunners enter the AAA Island championships in good form at Oak Bay High Wednesday.
Reynolds is the Saanich favourite going into the tourney and draw Spectrum in their Pool B opener Wednesday, 9 a.m. on the new Oak Bay High turf. Mount Douglas Rams open today’s tourney at 9 a.m. versus Nanaimo at Braefoot Park (the other AAA Islands location).
The Rams and Roadrunners then square off at Oak Bay High at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, while Spectrum draws Nanaimo at Braefoot.
The Roadrunners are coming off a big win last Wednesday when they soundly defeated the Rams 7-1 in a Lower Island senior boys soccer quarterfinal. Kiyoshi Croke and Will Adams each scored twice for Reynolds, with Sam Fletcher, Selou Greig Da Silva and Sylvan Taghousi providing the other scoring. Shoi Ueno scored the lone goal for the Rams.
“It’s a great warm up going into Islands [Wednesday] and the Colonist Cup semis next week,” said Reynolds coach J.J. Atterbury.
The Islands continue Thursday as Mount Doug plays Spectrum at 10:30 a.m. at Oak Bay while Reynolds faces Nanaimo at 10:30 a.m. (Braefoot). The Claremont Spartans are in Pool A and play Dover Bay Wednesday at 11 a.m. (Braefoot), Oak Bay High at 3 p.m. (Oak Bay), and Thursday at 9 a.m. vs. Cowichan (Oak Bay). Oak Bay will host Thursday’s final at 2:30 p.m. between the top teams in each pool.
Last week’s win over Mount Douglas puts Reynolds back into the Colonist Cup semifinals at 3 p.m. Nov. 17 at Braefoot. It’s a rematch of the city championship from 2015, when Oak Bay defeated Reynolds.
“[Reynolds] were well prepared today, they came ready to play after a 3-3 draw with the Rams in our last meeting,” said Atterbury.
The Roadrunners jumped to a 5-1 lead at half. Overall play deteriorated about 10 minutes into the second half, as the game’s intensity flamed out due to the six-goal difference.
There are only two spots for Island AAA teams at the provincials, which means reaching this week’s final.
There would be nothing better for the Roadrunners than to win the Colonist Cup, an Island title, or better yet, a provincial title.
Any combination of tournament wins (if not all) would put some extra celebration into the 50th anniversary of Reynolds secondary this year, Atterbury said.
St. Michaels enter the senior boys AA Islands as a favourite Wednesday and Thursday in Campbell River.