Nicholson's Nico James steals the ball away from Prince Edwards Joseph McDonald in senior boys COSSA action.
By Andrew Mendler
When the Prince Edward Collegiate Panthers boy’s soccer team took the field this season they had a distinct goal in mind, to get back to the OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations) championships.
The Panthers reached their goal Thursday afternoon capturing their second straight COSSA (Central Ontario Secondary School Athletics) championship with a 3-1 win over the Nicholson Crusaders.
The Panthers scored three unanswered second half goals to climb out of an early 1-0 deficit, snagging their second win of the day and clinching a birth into the OFSAA championships.
“It feels wonderful, the boys played really well all season, said Prince Edward head coach, Dave Mather. “I had a number of returning guys and they really had a goal; they wanted to go back to OFSAA because OFSSA is an incredible experience.”
Both teams had played their semi-final matches earlier in the day. Nicholson defeated Port Hope 1-0 while Prince Edward topped Peterborough Holy Cross 4-2.
The Crusaders started the scoring midway through the first half when forward Adriano Dramisino finished off a nice rush. Nicholson took the 1-0 lead into halftime.
The second half saw Prince Edwards’s powerful offense wake up. They stormed out of the break and controlled the play for the majority of the half.
“When we get warmed up, we get fired up, said Prince Edward forward Damien Wadforth. “When we want something real bad, the team gets together and we work real hard.”
Jared Found got the scoring going for the Panthers tapping a rebound past Nicholson keeper Devon Fobert to tie the game 1-1.
Just a few minutes later Joel Porritt put the Panthers up 2-1. Porritt was a key contributor in Prince Edwards’s offensive attack as he picked up a pair of goals against Peterborough earlier in the day.
The Panthers sealed the deal when Joseph McDonald booted a penalty kick past Fobert to give them a 3-1 lead with only minutes remaining.
Mather believed it was his team’s perseverance and helped them come back and win the game.
“They started digging deep and they were really pushing and the guys that we always count on to score goals came through and popped the goals in for us,” said Mather.
Wadforth believe that his teams experience from playing in last years OFSSA championships really help them focus in the second half.
“We just thought to ourselves, we had such a good time last year, it was so much fun, said Wadforth. “It was a lot harder competition there than here, so we just worked harder as a team.”
Last year, Prince Edward competed in the OFSSA event hosted in Windsor, finishing 5th in all of Ontario.
This year’s event will be hosted in North Bay and take place from June 7-9th. Mather said the Panthers would take a break for Christmas and begin practicing for the in January as conditioning is key to winning the event.
“Competition will be good up there but it will be good for us, said Mather. “It really comes down to when you play at a higher caliber than what you are used to that’s when you improve the most, that’s when you get better”