Northport Cougars battle their way to win top honours in the Lakeshore Boys Elementary Soccer tournament held at the Unifor fields October 18. Photo submitted

Submitted by Bill Colley, Northport Elementary School

In the Lakeshore Boys Elementary Soccer tournament on October 18, five Lakeshore area schools battled hard on a warm Fall day at the Unifor fields. The games among Tara, Paisley, G.C. Huston, École Port Elgin Saugeen Central and Northport often went to the wire with shootouts ending two of the playoff games.

In the first semi-final, Northport went to the fourth round of shootout against G.C. Huston before Logan Burnham netted his unanswered penalty kick to win the game for Northport.

The other semi-final saw École Port Elgin Saugeen Central School defeat Tara 2-0, setting the stage for a ‘battle of the big cats’. Logan Burnham’s crafty goal in the first half of the final gave the Cougars the lead through most of the game but the Wildcats roared late in the game, chipping one by the outstretched hands of nimble Ben Sollors, forcing another shootout.

The shootout saw Northport’s Ryan Renaud’s laser penalty kick past Jarret Blue matched by Tyson Ernst’s bullet to send the shootout to the second round. Cougar Sam Kozlenko surprised Blue by blasting his kick into the top, right side of the net, putting the pressure on the big shoulders of Wildcat leader, Brady Moulton, who launched his rocket drive over the quick hands of Ben Sollors. It clipped the crossbar, giving Northport the sudden death shootout victory and top honours.

The coaches and parents were very impressed with the efforts and sportsmanship of all the players in this tournament and were also very appreciative of not only the leadership provided on the field by our excellent referees but also the generosity of Unifor for offering their field again for this tournament.