Reynolds, Oak Bay in running for Colonist Cup
Beep. Beep.
There hasn’t been a coyote wily enough, or an anvil heavy enough, to stop the Reynolds Roadrunners this year or last year. They ran into the Colonist Cup final with a 2-0 victory over the St. Michaels University School Blue Jags in the semifinals Tuesday at a soggy Braefoot Park.
It is a reprise of 2016, in which the Roadrunners won their first Colonist Cup since 1983. The Colonist Cup is emblematic of Lower Island boys’ high school soccer supremacy, and over the decades, future pros, Olympians and World Cup players have competed for it.
Reynolds then celebrated the school’s 50th anniversary in grand style in 2016 when the Roadrunners captured their first B.C. championship with a roster that included several players that went on to become U Sports freshman this season.
There seems to be no letting up in 2017 as the Roadrunners won the AAA Island championships last week to again advance to provincials.
The Roadrunners will face Oak Bay in the Colonist Cup final Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Centennial Stadium on the University of Victoria campus. It is a rematch of the Island final, in which Reynolds edged the Bays 3-2.
Oak Bay advanced with a 4-0 semifinal victory at home Tuesday over the Royal Bay Ravens.
“Reynolds has built up quite the program and the Roadrunners will be a challenge,” said Rich Fast, who in his 15 seasons of co-coaching Oak Bay with Brent Garraway, has guided the Bays to five Colonist Cup titles.
“[Roadrunners] are skilled, effective and dangerous; and they punish you for your mistakes. But our guys are going to be fired up.”