So Sir John Franklin and St. Pat's once again won a majority of the banners up for grabs at Senior Super Soccer this past weekend.
But one look at the final results and you'll notice they didn't beat each other in every case, something that usually happens once finals day comes.
Sir John Franklin won three banners on Sunday – U15 A boys, U15 girls AA and U19 boys AA – which ended up being the most of any team that competed. The U15 A boys defeated Diamond Jenness Secondary School in their final, 4-2, while the U19 AA boys edged out Paul W. Kaeser High School of Fort Smith, 2-1.
The U15 AA girls squad was the only game where Sir John Franklin defeated St. Pat's and it was a nail-biter but the Falcons prevailed, 2-1.
Joe Acorn coached the Falcons and said it was a spirited effort on the part of his girls.
“They had us down at the half but we calmed the girls down and we came out strong in the second half,” he said.
The Irish opened the scoring on a long ball that somehow found its way into the Falcons goal, putting the Falcons behind the eight-ball early.
“There wasn't a lot of action in our end and they simply got the ball, took a shot and it went in,” said Acorn.
The Falcons regrouped at halftime and got back on even terms early on and scored a second a few minutes after that, a goal orchestrated by Olga Duru and Jenaya Hanninen.
“That first goal gave us some momentum to go out and get the second goal,” said Destiny Hobbs-Stewart of the Falcons. “Our coach just told us to keep doing what we were doing.”
What the Falcons were doing was being more patient in the second half than they were in the first, said Acorn, where they were just hammering the ball with not much success.
“They were in a rush to shoot it and there was too much power,” he said. “They weren't picking their spots and I told them to control the ball, work it around and get a good chance because picking a corner is just as good as trying to hammer one.”
As for the Falcons' U19 AA boys squad, they were made to work to hold on against the visitors from Fort Smith, said forward T.J. Britton.
“We expected to see them again in the final,” he said. “We just had to be prepared because they're a strong team and they can break out at any time.”
Britton himself opened the scoring in the final and another came shortly after that before Paul W. Kaeser got one back and then proceeded to put the Falcons under plenty of pressure in the final minutes.
“They were all over us,” said Britton. “Our team played smart enough, though, and we didn't take any silly fouls or do anything stupid.”
As for St. Pat's, their two banners came at the expense of Sir John Franklin in the U15 AA boys final by a score of 5-0 and Rankin Inlet in the U15 A girls final by the same 5-0 scoreline.
Rob Hart was the coach for the girls squad and said his team kept improving as the tournament went on.
“They had a tough time scoring goals in the early going, I think they only scored about five before the playoffs,” he said. “They started getting their confidence going and were setting each other up for shots. They were having a lot of fun out there.”
Rankin Inlet thought they opened the scoring thanks to a thunderous free kick but the goal was disallowed as it was an indirect free kick and goals can't be scored off an indirect free kick unless it touches one more player before going in.
Hart said the girls breathed a sigh of relief when it was called back.
“We came together after that,” he said. “They started playing as a team and when they were scoring, they're jumping 10 ft. or so in the air.”
The other banners all left town as Diamond Jenness' U19 A boys squad defeated St. Pat's to claim victory while Paul W. Kaeser took the U19 AA girls crown by beating St. Pat's, 3-1. Coral Harbour took a banner back to Nunavut thanks to their win over Diamond Jenness in the U19 A girls final.