EAGLES, T-BIRDS, LIONS SURVIVE


By ED O'LEARY, Expositor Staff

BRANTFORD _ The St. John's College Green Eagles, Pauline Johnson Collegiate Thunderbirds and Assumption College Lions survived Do-Or-Die Thursday. The Brantford Collegiate Institute Mustangs and the Paris District High School Panthers didn't.

The Eagles, T-Birds and Lions each won their final game of the regular-season schedule to qualify for the Brant County high school boys soccer league playoffs next week.

The North Park Collegiate Trojans, who had first place clinched prior to Thursday's games, lost 3-0 to the fast-charging Lions at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre but still feel confident as they prepare to face the T-Birds in a semifinal playoff game.

The other semifinal features a rematch of last year's championship game between the defending champion Lions and the Eagles.

The semifinals will be played Thursday at 4 p.m. at Assumption and the championship game is set for Friday, also at Assumption.

In Thursday's other games, the Eagles defeated the Mustangs 4-2 at Waterworks Park and the T-Birds nipped at the Panthers 1-0 at Charlton Park in Paris.

The Trojans and the Eagles each complete the schedule with records of three wins and two losses but North Park gets top spot because it defeated St. John's in their regular-season meeting.

The Lions and the T-Birds each finish with records of two wins, two losses and one tie. Since they tied in their regular-season game, Assumption is awarded third place because it has a better goals-differential than PJC.

The Mustangs and the Panthers are left on the outside looking in as each team finishes with 2-3 records.

Although the Panthers fail to makes the Brant County playoffs, their season hasn't concluded. Since Paris District is a class AA school, the Panthers are looking forward to competing in the Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association's AA playoffs.

The winner of the Brant County championship will qualify for the CWOSSA AAA playoffs May 30 and 31.

Goals by Richard Melski and Jack Przednowek gave the Eagles an early 2-0 lead against BCI.

The Mustangs fought back to tie the score on goals by Yohan Kagoma and Jessie Jenkins.

The Eagles regained the lead before the half concluded when Przednowek converted a crossing pass from Jeremy Johnson.

Przednowek concluded the scoring in the final seconds of the game.

``We figured it was do or die and we didn't want to leave it in anybody else's hands,'' said Eagles coach Peter Pomponio, who pointed to a play made by Johnson as the play of the game.

It happened with the Eagles leading 3-2 in the second half as Kagoma headed the ball over St. John's goalkeeper Alex Miserowsky. The ball took one bounce and was headed into the top right corner of the goal when Johnson jumped over the shoulder of a BCI player and headed the ball to safety before crashing hard into the goalpost.

``I haven't seen a gutsy play like that in a long, long time,'' Pomponio said. ``He put his body on the line for the team. There was nowhere else for him to go but hit the post. It was an incredible play.''

Johnson, a six-foot-two, 185-pounder, suffered a badly bruised arm which forced him to leave the game.

``It (the play) definitely picked us up and we started winning all the 50-50's (close battles for loose balls) after that.''

``St. John's played an excellent game,'' said BCI coach Tennyson Ulysse. ``St. John's is a very strong team. BCI was not intimidated and tried very hard.''

The T-Birds felt they played their best game of the season in eliminating the Panthers.

``I'm really proud of them,'' said co-coach Michael Michaelides. ``They hustled and worked very hard.

``They kept it simple which is something we talked about because we tried to make too many passes in other games.''

The scored was tied 0-0 at the half even though PJC enjoyed a large territorial edge in play with the wind at its back.

Matt Hoogkamp gave the T-Birds the lead in the eighth minute of the second half when he raced down the right wing and fired a hard shot into the Panthers' goal.

The Panthers played well for the remainder of the game but failed to take advantage of their scoring opportunities.

James Hake earned the shutout for the T-Birds, who also received exceptional efforts from defender Chris Sweeting and midfielder Mark Hoogkamp.

``We played excellent,'' said Matt Hoogkamp. ``It was our best game. It shows that coming into the playoffs, we're going to be strong.''

Panthers' coach George Szabo credited midfielders Jon Hills and Adam Hall for playing well as did the Panthers backfield line of Matt Holmes, Jason Hall, Justin Fox and Steve Shivas.

``We'd look good and then make one mistake,'' said Szabo. ``That's how they scored their goal.''

Richard Yeoman scored all three goals for the Lions in the Assumption win over the Trojans. Nathan Dorsey and David Henley shared the shutout.

The Lions needed to win both of their games this week to qualify for the playoffs. They defeated the Mustangs on Tuesday.

``We got our full squad together prior to facing BCI and they've really showed some dedication and playing with heart,'' said Lions' co-coach Tom Mercante. ``Every single one of them has been putting in their best effort.

``They knew it was going to be tonight or nothing so they gave it everything they had. They've implemented everything we've been practising.''

North Park co-coach Gerry Vitiello wasn't disturbed by the loss.

``It just let's us know that we've got a lot of work to do,'' Vitiello said. ``It provides some motivation and let's us know that we've got to come and do our best every night.''

Vitiello noted that defenders Paul Garbaty and Joey Jenkins, midfielder Bartech Hecht and forward Jason Bowen played well for the Trojans.



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