The senior boys basketball team is heading to league finals this week in second place. The Cyclones beat their competition last week in their first playoff game against Carstairs in Olds.
“This time last year we were second to Olds which is the same this year again,” explained Brandyn Blain, player.
“I think we're sitting in a good spot. We've improved a lot over the season and how the rest of the games go depends on how we show up to play,” he said, before heading into the playoffs against Carstairs Feb. 29.
The team, made up of five Grade 12 students, seven Grade 11s and two Grade 10 students, have come a long way, said coach James Thompson.
“Our confidence is up,” said Thompson, who added they recently won the Mark Wanagus Memorial Tournament in Drayton Valley beating out their first-place rivals, the Olds team.
The win of the memorial tournament, typically an invitation-only event, had a special meaning for Thompson.
“He (Wanagus) was my coach in my senior years,” said Thompson, who schooled in Drayton Valley.
“When I was in Grade 12 he passed away on Christmas Eve. We played the rest of the season in his honour. That was the first year the Drayton team went on to play provincials. It happened the next year and the year after that; a three-peat.”
He said it was also that year the memorial tournament started, and the team won that as well.
“I vowed I would come back with my son and win the tournament again. My son is only in Grade 7, but I was coaching the senior team this year and the other coach asked if I had heard of the tournament before. I took that as a sign.”
They asked if they could go and found out one team had just pulled out and there was a spot to fill.
“It was great. They played the best I've ever seen them play. I made sure to let them know about Mark and what he stood for — competition, integrity and sportsmanship.”
The senior boys played league finals last night in Olds.
