Ladysmith Secondary’s Grade 8 Boys thumped their opponents in a play-in game to remain undefeated on the season and advance to the provincial championship this weekend.
In front of a packed bleachers of supporters at LSS last Friday afternoon, the 49ers handily defeated Gulf Islands Middle School (SMS) 43-29 and will face some of the best in B.C. this weekend in Pitt Meadows.
Coach Kalvin Beuerlein said the team has been confident all season after success at the intermediate level.
“They came in fairly confident and I cautioned them that every high school is basically an all-star team of the elementary schools around it...but they’ve still been really successful,” he said.
The Grade 8 boys have been impressive since the first game of the season in late November and more recently on Feb. 18 when they captured the District Championship, which includes all SD68 schools as well as Ballenas and Kwalicum.
“They work really hard and have a core group of guys that play a lot of outside of the season and the rest of the guys follow suit,” Beuerlein said.
LSS showed their quick passing and ball handling skills early in the game against SMS, jumping to a 15-0 first quarter lead.
The teams traded scoring chances and headed into half-time with the 49ers still ahead 21-9 as SMS pressed late to try and bring the deficit to single digits.
The 49ers regained their rhythm and went on the offensive, outscoring their opponents 20-8 in the third en route to the win.
The team only officially practices twice a week but several boys on the roster take advantage of basketball scrimmages during open gym time.
“That big group of core guys are really skilled fundamentally,” Beuerlein said. “They get into the gym everyday at lunch and they play and they come out to all the practices.”