The bell for the final two weeks in junior boys' high school soccer has rung loudly.
The five teams - Lockerby, Lo-Ellen, St. Charles, Lively and St. Benedict - have gotten the heart of the schedule out of the way and starting this week, they get down to the nitty-gritty part of the season.
There may only be five teams but it's a great league to watch. It doesn't take any time at all for the rivalries to heat up to over 1000 degrees.
Much like the senior football schedule, the junior soccer boys' have basically one month to iron out differences in their teams and form a championship calibre club.
It's 30 days or so of jam-packed action with intense play.
There's a lot of legitimate players with tremendous skill and offensive firepower coming up through these junior ranks.
Coaches across the Sudbury senior ranks can rest easily at nights when they think about losing older players to graduation after this school year.
The youngsters in the junior league will have no problem
stepping up and filling the void.
Many of them could easily jump to the senior level right now
and not look out of place-they're that darn good.
I'll lift the lid off the junior soccer league and highlight some of the more explosive and offensive players who are cooking up a wild storm right now.
(Note: All statistics were as of Friday, Oct. 5. Results from Tuesday's games were unavailable at press time.)
The St. Charles Cardinals have been blessed with two really powerful goal-scoring machines in Brandon Ladouceur and Shawn Chretien.
St. Charles sports a 4-1 record in their first five games and these two snipers have been a big reason for the success. Combined, they've accounted for 12 of the Cardinals' 18 goals. Chretien has six goals in just four games, while Ladouceur has six goals in five games. Another St. Charles player, Brandon Pilon, has also come on lately and now has three goals in five games. St. Charles is for real this year and will challenge for the city crown.
Lockerby has flexed its muscular offensive style thanks to Justin Visentin, Dylan Caverson, Jordan Armstrong and Thomas Petersen. Visentin is a dominating force on the field and has six goals in six games. He can bulge the twine at any moment in a game he's that good. Caverson, Armstrong and Petersen offer strong support scoring with three goals each.
Lo-Ellen has a fancy striker in their attack by the name of Corey McEwen. Lo-Ellen is hanging tough in the league and have scored six goals overall and McEwen has three of them. This kid has moves that will make your jaw drop to the floor and dig hole. When he's on his game, he's worth paying money for to see play.
Taking a look at the teams, the Lockerby Vikings have taken
a strangle-hold on the standings.
They should be. Lockerby is considered an AAA school, which
means they have a larger student body population to draw their
players from compared to the other schools in the league.
Their depth, along with professional grade and no nonsense coaching, has made them the top dog in this yard.
And they're barking loud and backing up their play on the field with commanding performances.
Lockerby went 6-0 in their first six games, scoring a whopping 25 goals while not allowing one goal against. Their defence is suffocating to say the least.
Recently, they played Lo-Ellen. The Knights came out hard and controlled the play for about 30 minutes. Then Lockerby leader Brett Deck shouted on the field at one point, pleading with his teammates to get it together. Boy did they ever. From that point on Lockerby took over and cruised to a 6-0 win.
St. Charles and Lo-Ellen are the next two top teams, followed by Lively and St. Benedict. Every game has consequences and the boys play each other extremely hard.
There's only two weeks left in the hectic schedule. The boys play every Monday and Wednesday (expect this week, because of the Thanksgiving Holiday, they played Tuesday and then Thursday) at Hillcrest Field in Lively. Games start at 4 pm and 5:30 pm.
The playoffs start on Monday, Oct. 22 at James Jerome Field. Lockerby looks as if they will romp all the way to the city championship, but St. Charles and Lo-Ellen might have something to say about it before it's all over.
So before it comes to an end, get out there and enjoy some of the last highly competitive outdoor soccer before winter comes blowing in.
