It was redemption for Nolan Schwab and his CHSS teammates Saturday.
"We really wanted to this tournament so it's good," said Schwab, capitan of the Cougars volleyball team minutes after they won the Jon Bragg Memorial Invitational senior boys volleyball College Heights Secondary tournament.
The Cougars overwhelmed crosstown rival D.P. Todd Trojans in the final with a 25-14, 25-12 win to clinch their third tounament victory of the season.
"Our goal for every tournament is to just win," said Schwab, 17, about the third-ranked boys volleyball team in B.C. double AA.
At last year's tournament, the Cougars lost the final to Bulkley Valley Christian from Smithers. It's only the second time in 14 tries that the Cougars have won their own event. The 2008 team also won.
There was no doubt the Cougars were the superior team in the final Saturday, jumping out to big leads in both sets.
"That's our game plan, we need to get, at least, those first two points to gain lots of momentum because we play a lot better once we're on top," said Schwab.
The Cougars didn't get the jump they needed in the quarterfinal against the Kelly Road Roadrunners and ended up dropping their first set of the season.
"In the Kelly Road game, they got to us first and they had the momentum and that really sucked the life out of us."
"We missed a couple attacks off the start and Kelly Road just took the momentum," said Schwab about dropping the first set 17-25.
CHSS rebounded in the second set with a 25-15 win and then blitzed the Roadrunners 15-3 in the deciding set.
"Honestly, I'm kind of relieved and kind of grateful that we lost that set, because, I think, our team was focussing too much on keeping that perfect streak," said Schwab. "We weren't really focussing on just winning matches."
The Cougars went on to a straight-set win over the Duchess Park Condors A team in the semifinal, edging their opponent 25-23 in the first set before cruising to the final in the second set.
D.P. Todd surprised the Correlieu Clan (Quesnel) in the other semifinal with a straight-set win. The Clan was 6-0 in the tournament, having won Pool A.
In the final, after the Cougars earned eight consecutive points for a 24-12 advantage in the final set, Trojans setter Ryan Poeppel stepped up to the server's line.
"I just wanted to get it in and get a decent serve in and try to make them mess up," said Poeppel.
The 17-year-old's plan of attack worked for to keep the Trojans alive for three plays, but on the fourth Poeppel's serve flew into the net.
In one of the more exciting matches of the day the PGSS Polars forced the Condors to three sets in the quarterfinal. With a rambunctious audience cheering on each point scored by both teams, the Polars forced a deciding set with a 25-15 win.
The Condors flew out to an early 6-2 lead in the third set, but a timeout inspired the Polars to earn five of the next seven points. But, it was as close as PGSS could get as the Condors rallied off seven consectutive points for the 15-7 win.
Next weekend, the Cougars and Condors head to Kelowna for the annual Best of the West tournament, while the Trojans will play in Kelly Road's.
BRAGG REMEMBERED
Keith Wood remembers his former College Heights volleyball teammate, Jon Bragg, as a student with a bright future.
"He was an amazing athlete and super popular," said Wood, coach of the Duchess Park Condors senior boys' volleyball team.
Bragg was a Grade 11 student at College Heights in the mid-90s when he was thrown from a car and crashed into a tree one night on the Blackwater, dying in best friend Chad King's arms. An RCMP investigation found the driver of the car Bragg was riding in to be impaired.
Bragg's parents later donated a trophy to College Heights in their son's name, which became the Jon Bragg Memorial Invitational for senior boys at College Heights. The Condors were the first team to have their name on the trophy in 1997.
The College Heights Cougars have won the trophy twice in 14 years - the 2005 event was canceled due to a teacher's strike - in 2008 and 2011.
Wood said he tells the story of Braggs' death each year to his family studies class.
"As kids, we make too many stupid decisions and, sooner or later, you're going to pay the price," said Wood. "It's a reminder for these kids that they're not invincible."
Jay Guillet, coach of the Cougars, was the Condors' coach in 1997 in the first incarnation of the tournament.
"It's good quality teams that come to this tournament and we appreciate that," said Guillet. "It's never easy. Whoever shows up and has a good weekend they're going to have success. The next weekend it could be a different team having that success."
There were 12 teams from across Northern British Columbia taking part in this year's invitational.
