Senior Super Soccer is in the book for 2023, the first one since 2019. That’s occasion enough to celebrate.
But for Sir John Franklin High School, there’s another reason to celebrate and it’s something that hasn’t happened since St. Pat’s did it in 2017.
The Falcons swept the board in the AA class of the tournament at the Fieldhouse on Sunday. That means the school won all four banners in the top division: U15 boys and girls and U19 boys and girls. As mentioned, it’s the first time time in six years that’s occurred and the second time since the tournament began handing out two sets of banners in 2010. St. Pat’s was runner-up in all four of the AA finals on Sunday.
In the A class, Sir John Franklin won the U15 girls banner, while East Three Secondary of Inuvik won the U15 boys banner. Diamond Jenness Secondary School from Hay River took home the U19 boys crown and Liidlii Kue Regional High School from Fort Simpson captured the U19 girls championship.
Mitch Grady was looking after the organization of matters at Sir John Franklin and said winning all four top-tier banners is a huge sense of pride for the school.
And there’s no downplaying of the A banner either, he added.
“We’re obviously a soccer-oriented school and we’ve made the effort to develop both the junior and senior programs here,” he said. “All of our coaches have a soccer background and we were confident going in that we would do really well.”
When it came to the U19 girls, Grady said they felt they had something to prove following the Elks Outdoor Soccer Tournament in Hay River this past October.
“The loss they had there really stung and they felt like they had something to prove,” he said.
Like almost everyone who played last weekend, there were lots of hurting bodies the Monday afterward, said Grady, and it was obvious a lot of players were playing through the pain.
“Lots of turf burn and hobbling,” he said.
While the action on the field was the main event, there was a side competition of sorts called the Trophy Ball. That was a trophy donated by St. Pat’s and the winner of that was the team which collected the most amount of items through a food drive.
The St. Pat’s U19 boys ended up as the victors, but Tobi Taylor-Dusome, the tournament’s whip, said all of the teams played a huge role in donating much-needed food.
“Multiple bins of food were collected,” she said. “(The) St. Pat’s Interact (Club) was in charge of the whole thing and did amazing.”
She said the food drive will become a regular part of Senior Super Soccer going forward.