The Duchess Park Condors have made winning a habit this season on the senior boys basketball court.
They started establishing that trend in December, when they defeated their archrivals - the Prince George Polars - on home court at the Condor Classic tournament. In January, Duchess Park won the Fulton tournament in Vernon, and two weeks ago they swept all three games against Smithers, Terrace and Charles Hays of Prince Rupert (sixth-ranked in B.C.).
That makes the Condors the top seed heading into today's five-team North Central zone triple-A boys championships at College Heights. But with only one berth available for the 16-team triple-A boys provincial championship and a tough Polars squad also in the hunt for the zone trophy, the Condors know that nothing short of their best effort will be acceptable.
"We have a special group of guys and it will be a dogfight to get through this weekend, but I think we can make some noise at provincials if we get there," said Condors head coach John MacDonald. "We're 1-1 against PGSS and College Heights is playing well right now. The difference between my team and every other team is we go 12-deep. Everyone plays and we're very fast and we're a lot of fun to watch."
The Condors' flock includes eight seniors - Yutuc, Jong Won Yun, Fasahat Saeed, Bailey Muxlow, Cody Cruse, Owen Trepanier, Cole Rader, Austyn Boulding; one Grade 11 - Andrew Heitman; and three Grade 10 players - Colburn Pearce, Cody Boulding and Malcolm MacDonald.
The team is still finding ways to cope with the sudden death of co-coach Matt Pearce, who died Jan. 23 of a heart-related condition. Despite his youth, Pearce's son Colburn is one of the Condors' top players and coach MacDonald says Colburn has found strength in his teammates, helping him through the most difficult time of his life. Playing basketball has given all the Condors an outlet to allow them to deal with the grief of losing a coach they all loved.
"The best counseling we could ever have is through the team and supporting each other, the boys have been together and been there for each other all season long and especially the last two months and it's been hard," said MacDonald, whose assistant coach is Aaron Brouwer. "Colburn has a tremendous focus, just like his dad did, and he's just taking it one day at time what he needs to do. It's new territory for everybody.
"The whole basketball community had been so supportive of us, anything we need, people will provide it. You never want to put it behind you because you always want to embrace what Matt brought to the table, and that's the most important thing for us. We honour him with how we play."
Duchess Park opens Friday at 11:15 a.m. in the quarterfinal round against the winner of today's Dawson Creek-Lake City game (3:30 p.m. start). In today's other matchup, the No. 2-ranked Polars take on the No. 3 College Heights Cougars.
The A semifinal is set for Friday at 7:15 p.m. The winner advances to the championship game Saturday at 3 p.m. The A semifinal loser plays in the B semifinal Saturday at 9:30 a.m.
The Condors are ranked 10th by the B.C. High School Boys Basketball Association in the provincial triple-A boys rankings, tied with Lord Byng of Vancouver. They begin their provincial championship quest on Wednesday, March 9 at a 16-team tournament in Langley.
The Duchess Park senior girls took over the No. 1 double-A provincial ranking from Immaculata of Kelowna when they beat the Mustangs in double-overtime in late-January in the semifinal of the Best in the West tournament, then went in to defeat the host Kelowna Owls in the final.
Last year the Condors carried top billing in the province all season but their banner hopes were scuttled when they suffered a two-point loss to Notre Dame in the provincial quarterfinals. Four Condors - seniors Alina Shakirova, Marcie Schlick, Madison Landry and Nicola Erricson - were on that team which finished fifth in the province last year and they don't want to feel that sting of falling short of expectations again.
"I don't think the girls let rankings affect them, they know better," said Condors head coach Catherine Erricson. "Three of them (Schlick, Shakirova and Landry) were starters last year and they remember. That's valuable.
"We've played mostly triple-A teams down south and that's been good for us. They've always brought their compete level up with these tough teams we've played in the south."
The Nechako Valley Vikings are ranked sixth in B.C. heading into provincials. The Condors beat them by 20 last weekend in the zone final in Vanderhoof.
The double-A boys zone championship will be determined in a best-of-three playoff between the Kelly Road Roadrunners and Nechako Valley Vikings. The Roadrunners beat their Vanderhoof opponents by four points in the final of the Kelly Road tournament, Jan. 16.
The Cedars Christian Eagles hold the No. 1 ranking at a the 11-team single-A girls zone championships which start today in Tumbler Ridge. The Eagles will be on the court today at 4:40 p.m. to open against the winner of this morning's Fraser Lake-Chetwynd matchup. Three provincial berths for the 16-team B.C. championship in Duncan, March 9-12, will come out of the North Central zone. Lakes District of Burns Lake and Northside of Vanderhoof are the respective second and third seeds at the zone playoffs.
Coached by Randy Stybos, the Eagles are ranked fourth in the province behind Langley Christian, Mulgrave of West Vancouver and St. Anne's of Kamloops.
Two Prince George teams will be in Langley on Saturday for the start of the 32-team junior A boys provincial tournament. The 16th-ranked zone-champion Duchess Park Condors open against No. 17 MEI of Abbotsford Saturday at 11:30 a.m., while the 27th-ranked D.P. Todd Trojans play their first game Saturday at 8:30 a.m. against No. 6 Argyle of North Vancouver.
The zone-champion Duchess Park Condors begin play Wednesday at the junior A girls provincial championship in Langley.
