ONSLOW - The South Colchester Wolves came into Thursday's Northumberland Region junior high boys soccer final with a chip on their shoulder.
Fresh on their minds was a 3-2 loss on home turf to the Central Colchester Bears in Tuesday's district final. So they returned the favour and beat the Bears by the same score for the regional title in Onslow.
"We wanted this so bad," Wolves centre midfielder Riley Peck said. "It feels great. We worked hard the whole time and we tried our best and we got it."
Jordan Davies scored a pair of goals for the Wolves, including the winner with just 1:12 left in the game.
"We knew it wasn't going to be easy," Wolves coach Patti McKenzie said. "We knew that it was going to be a big challenge but we were up for it. "
The Wolves wasted no time making their intentions known Thursday as Peck gave the Brookfield-based side a 1-0 lead just over a minute into the contest. Davies struck later to give South Colchester a 2-0 lead at half.
But showing why they were district champions, the Bears didn't go down without a fight and goals from Ryan Bakker and Jack Lynds lifted them back into the game with about 15 minutes to go. It turned the contest into a desperate affair as players, knowing time was winding down, scrambled in the mud to create the winning scoring chance.
Even so, the Wolves remained calm and focused on the prize and were rewarded when Davies' shot from about 10 feet out barely got through the hands of Bears keeper Nathaniel Singer, trying to clutch a rain-soaked ball in a muddy area.
"They just didn't give up," McKenzie said. "When they tied up the game on us the boys kept going and they didn't stop."
That's why his team came out on top, Peck said.
"I think we deserved it because we tried a bit harder," he said. "We were aggressive and just played the way we can."
The Wolves opened the day with a 7-0 thrashing of New Glasgow in a semifinal match while the Bears tuned Springhill 6-0 in their semi.
"It really got the guys fired up," McKenzie said. "It was good momentum for them."
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