By Tina Comeau
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
The Yarmouth Clippers U16 boys are off to provincials after having won the South Shore District League title.
The team won the league championship title on Sunday, Aug. 19, after defeating Bridgewater 3-0.
The Clippers had advanced to the final round of playdowns after finishing in first place in the league. In fact, the team was undefeated in league play throughout the summer season and went into the playdowns seeded in first place.
Bridgewater and New Germany played off on Aug. 18 for the opportunity to advance to the final playdown game versus Yarmouth. It was Bridgewater that moved on.
In the final playdown game in which Bridgewater was unable to score, Rory O’Brien opened the scoring in the second half, followed by two goals from Jevan Crowell.
The Clippers’ Keigin Grayley was named the league’s top defenseman.
The Clippers will be heading to provincials on Sept. 1 and 2 in Kentville. There will be eight teams at the tournament, which includes league champions from around the province and two teams from the host district.
“We have seen other provincial teams in two tournaments that we’ve played this year, so we may end up seeing some of those same teams at provincials,” says Clippers U16 head coach Bob Jenkins. “But there is a good likelihood that these will, for the most part, be teams we’ve never seen before.”
The weekend prior to winning the league title the Clippers had won the gold medal at the Sackville United Tournament. Jenkins says those back-to-back big wins have the team feeling pretty good heading into provincials.
Asked what he attributes the to team’s success, Jenkins says, “We’ve got players that are really clicking in their passing and possession. We have an A-1 defence line and goaltenders. We’ve got strikers that have been top scorers in the league all summer,” he says. “It is just really good individual and team play.”
