High school boys sizzle at the Citadelle A football final in Cornwall

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The La Citadelle boys soccer team is strong, confident, spirited and not about to shy away from discussing the big picture.

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When the Patriots won the SDG High School A playoff final on their home field in Cornwall on a steamy Wednesday afternoon, they immediately booked their spots for next week’s Eastern Ontario (EOSSAA) championship – and not only.

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“The goal is to get to OFSAA (provincials) in Niagara Falls (in early June),” head coach Joel Levac said after the Patriots erupted for three second-half goals in 24 minutes to pull away from Glengarry Gaels for a 4-1 win.

Why not hold up? At an icebreaker tournament in Kingston earlier this year, Levac said he believed he had a dynamic group to guide in 2024. Against AAA and AA competition, the Patriotes went 5-0 and allowed a only empty.

Mai was also quite well. The Patriots, now 13-0 overall in SDG regular season and playoff action, have scored 50 goals and given up just three.

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“The diversity of our team was really special,” Levac said. “We are very fortunate to have newcomers to our school and I think a big way they have integrated into our school and community is through football.

“What’s special about this team is that it’s 20 best friends. They stay together, the chemistry is amazing.”

There will be challenging times – that’s the nature of team sports and winner-take-all games. In Wednesday’s final, coach Glen Campbell’s Alexandria side brought their A-game and drew the attention of La Citadelle in a contest that was deadlocked 1-1 going into the second half.

“We had a really strong first half,” Campbell said. “I felt the game was tied at that point. . . (but) they definitely took it from us in the second half.”

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The head coaches saw things the same way. Levac had praise for Glengarry’s first-half performance and Campbell fully agrees with the increasingly widespread view that La Citadelle will be tough for anyone to beat at EOSSAA in Williamstown next week.

“(The Patriots) have the caliber of team to win the EOSSAA,” Campbell said.

However, La Citadelle does not need to be reminded of something that can happen. Consider the midday semi-final game against Tagwi, the Warriors hanging around much longer than most expected, deadlocked 0-0 with 15 minutes remaining.

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It took a nice field goal from William Gosselin for the Patriots to escape in the final. Gosselin was on quite a run towards the La Citadelle goal but was running out of real estate when he finally managed to get a shot off at full speed – and what a perfect low shot from a bad angle with the ball sneaking in. between the goalpost and the outstretched hands of the diving goalkeeper.

“I think that’s part of what makes this team what it is — (Gosselin) wasn’t expected to be the scorer, but anybody can be a hero, they pick each other up,” Levac said. “Tagwi had a great system, it was like they had a wall in front of the net and we couldn’t get through. . . they gave us a terrible battle, a real scare.”

In the final, Zachary Aubin had a pair of goals for La Citadelle. Singles added by Pablo Mbutu and Barrett Weight, who had a more memorable one. Just last week, Weight was named the winner of the RBC High School Football Award at the 57th Benson Cornwall Lions Club Sports Awards Dinner.

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Robin Renold connected for the Gaels, who eliminated their Glengarry County rivals from Char-Lan in the semifinal round.

Also on Wednesday in Williamstown, Char-Lan won the senior A girls division, defeating La Citadelle in an offensive final 5-3.

The Crusaders, co-coached by league convener Kelsey MacDonald and Ali MacLeod – and who will host EOSSAA on Tuesday and Wednesday – defeated Tagwi 6-0 in the semi-final round.

A thrilling semi-final between La Citadelle and Glengarry went to double-time, then a penalty shoot-out, before the Pats could finally go ahead.

The Junior Girls A final saw La Citadelle win 3-0 over Glengarry.

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