Cochrane High School Cobras’ gold medal came with a silver lining.
After winning the Rocky View Sports Association boy’s soccer banner with a gripping 1-0 win over Chestermere High School Lakers on May 28 in Airdrie, Cobras took heavily-favoured Canmore to the limit in the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association South Central Zone final before losing 3-2 on penalty kicks May 30 in Cochrane.
The whirlwind championship weekend wrapped a highly-compressed season for high-school boy’s soccer in Rocky View, the Cobras playing 11 matches in three weeks including Division and Zone playoff play.
“It was fantastic,” said Cobras head coach Carolyn McLeod of her team’s season. “For Divisionals, the boys came into the final and just had a fantastic game. It wasn’t as easy as they were thinking, at first. They battled hard.”
Tim Petrone scored the definitive goal for Cochrane in the Divisional final against Chestermere at Airdrie’s Monklands Park.
Then it was off to Zones, held May 29-30 in Cochrane. Cobras went 2-1 in tournament play before losing the final to Canmore. Tied 2-2 in regulation, Canmore won it on penalty kicks.
“When we were playing Canmore, it was tough,” McLeod said. “They were solid all the way through. It was tough to match Canmore position for position.”
McLeod’s team features a diverse group of athletes. You will find football/basketball/track guys like Spencer Marchand and Ethan Forrest, and wrestler Aidan McKeage, starting on her soccer squad alongside soccer specialists like Petrone and Dominik Zuczek.
“Definitely. I had a volleyball player. Football. They came from all walks of life and came to be a part of the program. We had a lot of fun at practices,” she said.
Given the team had 23 days to cram in 11 matches, McLeod couldn’t ask for anything more from her group.
“I think for what we could do in the time that we had and the boys that we had, I think they did an incredible job and had just an amazing season,” she surmised. “We really showed here’s the team that we are and here’s what we can do. There were a lot of victories throughout the season.”
