Close shave for WCI Red Devils at/after WOSSAA A boys’ soccer championships

WCI’s Leonard Hobbs (rear) heads the ball from danger. (Jeff Tribe Photo)

Jeff Tribe, Echo Correspondent

Depending on the way you look at it, the Woodstock CI Red Devils boys’ 1-0 Western Ontario Secondary Schools Athletic Association (WOSSAA) A victory over the Strathroy Holy Cross Centurions at Woodstock’s Cowan Park May 28 was a journey one or four years in the making.

Either of which is considerably longer than it will take for coach Jason Poole to regrow his hair.

“Yeah… I made some promises early in the season,” the Red Devils mentor admitted with a grimace. “And they may come back to bite me.”

The same two teams met in last year’s WOSSAA A final, with the Centurions prevailing.

“Three-hundred-and-sixty-five days preparing for this moment,” said WCI’s Oscar Berkeley, who scored the lone goal off a second-half penalty earned by teammate Elisha Dezeeuw.

Berkely took a wide run to the spot, indicating to his right before calmly depositing the ball in the bottom, left corner of the Strathroy goal.

“We call him Mr. Nonchalant,” credited Red Devils keeper and captain Justin Deschamps.

“He has no emotion out there unless he’s yelling at the ref,” WCI centre-back Noah Clements added with a smile.

Deschamps and company made the narrow margin stand for the rainy duration, sticking to Poole’s gameplan of trusting the team’s structure, playing stingy defence and countering when opportunities presented themselves.

“They played it well and did the right stuff,” credited Clements of a tight battle contested on a slippery pitch.

“They had more chances,” Deschamps agreed, “but we did it when it mattered most.”

The Red Devils had their hands full with the Centurions in the first half Poole admitted, and with a quartet of yellow cards, had to play cautiously through the second.

“And just lay it on the line.”

One late Strathroy try rolled wide of the post to the WCI keeper’s left, but shortly after, the referee’s final three whistles set off a celebration one - or four - years in the making.

Deschamps is among the graduating Grade 12 veterans who has been with coach Poole for their entire high school careers, looking forward to celebrating a final soccer farewell together at Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA A) championships.

“We didn’t win a single game for like two years,” said Deschamps. “Last year, we saw some hope.

“And we knew if it was going to be any year, it was this year.”

The Red Devils defeated Wingham F.E. Madill 2-0 in their WOSSAA A semi-final on goals from Nardo Rose and Dezeeuw, Holy Cross blanking Exeter South Huron 6-0.

“I think it was meant to be,” said Poole, who 20 years earlier, had headed home the goal which sent Woodstock St. Mary’s Warriors to OFSAA in Jordan’s Crossing, right in the neighbourhood of this year’s twinned boys/girls A in Welland June 5 through June 7.

Both WCI boys and girls teams qualified, the first provincial soccer berths for both teams, and in the words of coach Poole, a ‘once in a generation’ accomplishment.

Before the Red Devils had a practice this season, before they touched a ball, he held a team meeting.

“Laying out what we wanted and how we were going to get there.”

That roadmap to improve on 2024’s 16-1 record by punching the team’s ticket to OFSAA included seeking out tough competition, adding tournament games and upgrading last year’s playoff beard with the incentive of creative hairstyling, should the Red Devils win WOSSAA A.

“I had to motivate them,” Poole explained.

“And we get to pick,” said Clements, musing it will require another team meeting to ultimately decide.

“I think a buzz, he needs it all off,” Clements continued. “A nice clean buzz.

“That’s my vote.”

“I think we’re going down to the wood,” Berkeley continued.

“I think just shave it, completely shave it,” Deschamps agreed.

Poole is very aware that haircuts are temporary, OFSAA memories last forever. However, apart from a little thinning, he and fiancé Lindsay McCoy’s upcoming August nuptials do add a measure of concern on style - or lack thereof. Fully conceding McCoy has done the heavy lifting for both wedding planning and the birth of their four-month-old daughter while supporting his busy basketball and soccer coaching schedules, Poole is hopeful whatever style is chosen dovetails decently into wedding photos.

“It may not be a good look,” he concluded with a smile. “Hopefully it’s just a different colour and I can wash it out.”