Co-captains win third title
Stonepark co-captains win third straight provincial school championship
CORNWALL – Jon Fradsham and Chase Bell capped their P.E.I. School Athletic Association intermediate AA soccer careers in style.
The two Grade 9 centre midfielder shave hoisted the provincial championship banner in all three of their years at the Charlottetown-based school.
“My brother (Will) won a couple of times with Stonepark and I came the next year and we have won all three years,” said Fradsham, who co-captained the Tigers along with Bell.
What makes this accomplishment even more special is that they both made key contributions in a 2-0 decision over the Hernewood Huskies in the winner-takeall final at the Terry Fox Sports Complex in Cornwall on Saturday afternoon.
Bell teamed up with Fradsham to open the scoring at the six-minute mark with what would stand up as the championship-clinching goal.
“Jon just crossed it in and I just headed it as hard as I could into the net,” said the 14-year-old Bell.
The significance of the goal was also not lost on Bell, who is from Brackley.
“It was pretty special,” he added.
Although all three championships are meaningful, Bell said this year is the most special one for him because he was able to contribute with a goal. Fradsham said the first title stands out for him.
“Grade 7 was probably my favourite because we were the two youngest guys on the team,” said Fradsham, 14. “It was cold and muddy that day, so it felt pretty good to win.”
The Tigers continued their fast start as Nathan Wheeler found the back of the net in the 12th minute to make it 2-0.
“It was good for us to get that confidence and we were a little nervous starting,” said Stonepark head coach Ian Fradsham.
That was all the offence required for Stonepark keeper Sean Rooney, who registered the clean sheet, despite a push by the Huskies.
Hernewood coach John Robertson felt his team played well. He admitted the Huskies came out flat and were missing Colby Hudson, the team’s second-highest scorer, and starting forward Jordan Shaw.
“We turned it around and (during) the second part of the first half I thought we started stepping up a little bit and put some pressure on them,” said Robertson. “Then in the second half, I thought it was very even.
“Hernewood looked more like itself in the second half, but we just couldn’t finish. We didn’t have a lot of opportunities, we didn’t get a lot of shots on net and most of our shots were from 40 yards out and farther and that’s not going to work. We weren’t as creative as we normally are with the ball and they took advantage of that.”
Coach Fradsham felt his team executed its game plan well to complete the abbreviated 2020 season undefeated at 6-0. The Tigers went 3-0 in the regular season and won all three playoff games.
“We decided we wanted to play the ball wide,” said Fradsham. “When we started to move the ball a bit and go wide, we had some success and got some opportunities. We happened to finish early and held on tight because they pressed pretty hard coming on the end of the game.”