Fraser Valley’s U14 boys have delivered a B.C. premier soccer title to Langley.
Come this fall, they’ll look to continue their run on a national stage.
On a sunny Saturday, June 25 in Kelowna, the EA Sports BC Soccer Premier League squad edged Mountain United FC 1-0 to capture the Provincial Premier Cup.
The stakes were high with the winner going on to represent B.C. at the National Club Championships in Moncton, N.B. from Oct. 5 to 10.
After a very competitive and hard fought match, the Fraser Valley premier boys captured the provincial title, with the lone goal coming from Jehmrode Kahlon very early in the second half.
The winning goal came as a result of a Fraser Valley corner kick that was taken by Tommy Millar.
After a goal mouth scramble, the ball found the foot of Kahlon, who calmly dribbled by one defender before slotting the ball into the corner of the net from 10 yards out.
Fraser Valley head coach and Langley FC technical director, Steve Millar, said the game lived up to expectations and had a bit of everything.
The Fraser Valley boys desperately defended their lead in the last 10 minutes while playing a man down, due to a red card for a hand ball in the penalty area.
The Valley goalkeeper saved the ensuing penalty shot to preserve the shutout, and in the last minute Brandon Cambridge cleared a ball off the goal line.
Millar said he was very proud of the boys’ character and their will to succeed.
“The BCSPL is a league in which we are focusing on development first and foremost, and I have no doubt in my mind that these… are some of the most technical players I have seen,” Millar said.
“I have been lucky to play with and coach many gifted players, but to see what these boys can do in training, and week to week, they really are quite special.”
He continued, “In the final, as a coach, you could see these boys just wanted to win. They wanted the Cup.”
The provincial championship final capped off a very impressive run for these boys.
Since September, Fraser Valley has won both the league and League Cup phase with five wins and one tie, scoring 11 goals while allowing two against in six league games, before putting together a League Cup playoff run that included three wins, nine goals scored and just two against, including a 3-0 win in the final in November.
They carried this momentum into the February to June phase by fashioning an 11-1-2 record en route to first place, scoring 26 times while giving up just six.
This gave the local boys the top seeding heading into the Provincial Premier Cup, where they won their semifinal game 2-0 over Fusion FC, to set up their provincial final appearance.
The B.C. champions are Nolan Premack, Karmveer Rai, Marley Edwards, Sevak Lehal, Isaac Janzen, Jeevan Sidhu, Brandon Cambridge, Tommy Millar, Jehmrode Kahlon, Cadell Rees, Joel Ward, Max Barker, Jaskirat Sidhu, Jasdeep Khakh, and Devon Chescoe. The head coach is Steve Millar, the assistant coach is Mike Scheu, and the team manager is Lloyd Rees.
