The senior boys team from Centennial Christian School secured provincial silver in the championship hosted here in Terrace last weekend.
The team finished second in their pool in the round robin, beating Duncan, Carver and Vernon and losing to Credo Christian.
They played an intense quarter-final match on Friday night against Bulkley Valley Christian School from Smithers.
Shouts and cheers reverberated through the gym, with packed stands and a strong cheering contingent on both sides.
Smithers’ BVCS claimed the first set with a significant 25-12 win, but Centennial amped up their game and came back to claim the next set with tight 26-24 victory.
Centennial swept the next set 25-15, but the Smithers team fought a strong game in the next set, with Centennial only narrowly claiming the win 25-23.
They went on to beat Richmond in the semi final, taking the first two sets, losing the third and winning the fourth to advance to the finals.
In the finals, they faced Kelowna Christian in another best-of-five game.
Centennial’s team captain Evan Veldman had injured his ankle in an earlier game, so wisely took it somewhat easy in an effort to avoid permanent injury.
Kelowna claimed the first set and Centennial the second, but then Kelowna got on a run, with several key blocks shutting down Centennial’s attacks.
Kelowna claimed the next two sets to take gold.
Centennial finished at silver, and Evan Veldman and Lucas Mantel were awarded provincial first all-star awards, with Liam Clunas honoured with the provincial second all-stars. See more awards here.
The final standings were as follows:
(1) Kelowna Christian, (2) Centennial Christian, (3) Richmond Christian, (4) Credo Christian (5) Bulkley Valley Christian, (6) Duncan Christian, (7) Selkirk Secondary, (8) Fernie Secondary (9) Carver Christian, (10) Ebenezer, (11) Vernon Christian, (12) Cedars Christian.
As principal Edgar Veldman reminded teams at the beginning, regardless of the tournament outcome, it’s a significant accomplishment to be named among the top 12 in the province.
For more details, pick up a copy of The Terrace Standard on Dec. 7.
