Anthony Preston is only 17, but there were times he looked like a man among boys playing for the big prize in the North Cariboo Senior Soccer League.
With his shifty feet and explosive quickness, he manhandled seasoned veterans of the adult game on more than a few occasions. That was enough to put Onyx Stones & Custom Cabinets over the top in the Open Division championship game Saturday at North Cariboo Field. Preston was in on all three of his team's scoring plays with two goals and an assist in a 3-1 triumph over JTM Home Solutions.
"I think they definitely passed a little better than us for some of it but we counterattacked and kind of waited to pick up their mistakes and that's really how we scored two goals," said Preston.
Preston got Onyx's offence going with a strike from about 20 yards out that beat goalie John Richards. On the ensuing kickoff, JTM veteran Jon Lafontaine saw Onyx goalie Sukhman Singh well out of his crease with his gloves off, tying his shoelaces as the referee blew the whistle. Lafontaine immediately launched a high rainbow from the centre line that sailed in over the goalie's head to tie the game four minutes in.
Preston's second goal was an example of how good he is at making a high-speed manoeuvres when given the chance to dribble the ball. He took a pass up the middle from Abou Cisse and took off running with no one but the goalie Richards to try to stop him. Preston knew he had time and waited for the goalie to bite on his fake and with one sideways shift the Onyx sniper was home free.
Late in the game, Preston took a free kick and laid it right at the feet of forward Jaskaran Mann, standing in the crease, and in bicycle kick style Mann rifled off a shot from close range into the net.
"He had a size advantage and he looked like he was in a good position and it looked like the goalie was on the other side so I thought I might as well," said Preston. "I've never seen anyone do that, I was not expecting that at all."
Preston is just starting his final year of high school at Duchess Park and played most of the summer on the Prince George Timberwolves 18U team which won bronze at the Provincial B Cup. He joined Onyx with just two games left in the season, which helped spur the team to a five-game undefeated string. They made the playoffs with a 5-11-4 sixth-place regular season record and kept up the hot streak, reeling off three straight wins to claim their first NCSSL title.
"The young guys really helped us out quite a bit this year, we came a long ways from when we started, without structure, without anything, and now we're a pretty decent team to play," said Onyx coach Roger Dindayal.
"Win or lose, it was a victory for us. Nobody counted on us being in the final."
JTM (11-7-3) won the Open Division regular season championship. They hit three crossbars in the first half and two of those came off the foot of Lafontaine.
"They're really fast and they played well and they capitalized on some chances they had and we couldn't capitalize," said Lafontaine. Three crossbars - you can't let teams off the hook like that.
"(Preston) is a special player. He's shifty but he also can do all those moves that while he's still going at full speed and for a defender, that's tough to jockey."
In the 45-plus Division final earlier Saturday, the Mr. Quick Gunners topped Assante/Splash 2-1. Ciro Caceres kicked in the game-winning goal about three minutes into the second 15-minute overtime session. Rod Robinson sprung Caceres on a breakaway and he got the ball in past goalie Andrew White. It wasn't sudden-death and for the final seven minutes the Gunners kept the ball out of scoring range.
The goal capped a prolific comeback season for the 44-year-old Caceres, who had 19 goals in 18 regular season goals to win the division scoring crown after missing all but one game the previous season with a knee injury that required surgery.
Tien Mueller forced overtime when he headed in a shot with about five minutes left in regulation. Just before Mueller scored, Craig Christie had a chance to add to the Mr. Quick lead but missed the net with his penalty shot on Andrew White.
Robinson scored the first Gunners' goal.
The Gunners (18-1-1) ran away with the regular season title, while Assante/Splash (8-11-1) finished third in the final standings.
"They're a fantastic team but all year they were short of players, and that the only reason they lost a bunch of games and they still finished in third place," said Caceres.
"We beat them all three times we played them but they're younger and have a lot more talent and we knew it was going to be a hard game. Our goalie (Jeff Rachochy) came up big."
