The Williams Lake Bighorns midget lacrosse team finished second among four teams in Prince George June 25-26 at the Great White North Zone Playoffs.
As a result, the Bighorns will attend the B.C. Provincial Lacrosse Championships in Coquitlam from July 22-24.
Midget Bighorns coach Robin Hoffos said the team fought valiantly the entire tournament, overcoming a short bench to earn the provincial berth.
“Our first game was a resounding 13-4 win against Mackenzie who replaced their goalie in the second period after he twisted his knee,” Hoffos said.
After a short break between games the Bighorns then faced off against Prince George, who had beaten Quesnel earlier in the day.
“The host team Prince George, drawing from a field of 27 players, brought three full lines against the two lines for [us],” he said.
Prince George went up 2-0 early in the game, before the Bighorns fought back, evening the score in the second period on two goals from Riley Lawryk. Nearing the end of the second, however, Prince George lit the lamp two more times to go up 4-2.
“We played hard but Prince George took home the win and the pennant with a 6-3 win,” Hoffos said. “We played an outstanding game against a much more experienced team. Garrett Taylor-Gerow was solid in net and the rest of the team demonstrated great spirit and teamwork in the hard-fought match.”
Meanwhile, the Bighorns bantam, peewee and novice teams were also playing in each of their respective playoff divisions; however, facing some tougher, more experienced competition didn’t quite find the success of their midget counterparts.
Peewee coach Ken Grieve said despite losing a pair of games, his club showed outstanding competitiveness considering many are first- and second-year players.
The peewee Bighorns lost their first game 11-1 to Prince George, before falling 5-0 to Mackenzie.
“The players showed a lot of heart in both games, especially our goalie, Carson Springer, who played terrifically in both games and kept the scores respectable,” Grieve said.
“Other notable efforts were Eli Davies, Alexis Hemond, Jared Yuill and Cass Harry. Since the players were primarily first and second year it was difficult to compete with the other teams who have five, six and in some cases seven years of experience but they didn’t quit.”