An Okotoks High School has made an early claim as one of the teams to beat in senior boys soccer.
The Holy Trinity Academy (HTA) Knights hold the pole position in the Foothills Athletic Council (FAC) after amassing a 2-0 record and outscoring their opponents by a 7-1 margin.
“I’m very happy,” said HTA head coach Justin Urbani. “We’re a convincing 2-0 and both games were well in hand.”
The Knights romped Notre Dame Collegiate 5-1 on April 25 and edged the Highwood Mustangs 2-0 on April 30.
“I was very, very pleased. We moved the ball very well,” Urbani said. “We controlled the ball for probably 90 per cent of the game.”
Mike Weigle scored in the first half before Felix Hoppe added the insurance marker in the late stages.
The road gets a little more arduous for HTA as they travel northwest to face a high powered Canmore Collegiate side on May 2.
“I think they’re going to be our first significant challenge,” Urbani said.
Meanwhile, the defending FAC champions have struggled out of the gate to a 0-1-1 record.
The Foothills Composite Falcons tied Highwood 2-2 on April 25 and dropped their second game of the season 5-3 to the Strathmore Spartans, in a rematch of the 2011 final.
“It’s a work in progress, now that we’ve got two games under our belt we’re going to be more strong,” said Falcons’ head coach Clint Dunford.
Falcon Jared Nudd found the back of the net on a first-half miscue from the Spartan goalkeeper before Marc Alford scored on a partial breakaway and Zoltan Helli converted on a penalty shot in the second half in a losing cause.
“In that second half we really started to move the ball around and actually play how we wanted to,” Dunford said. “Finally we started to settle the ball down and play the ball on the ground and that’s where we do our best work.”
Dunford said tightening up on defence and keeping to formation will be points of emphasis going forward.
The Falcons travel to High River to face the Notre Dame Collegiate Timberwolves on May 2 for a 4:30 p.m. kick-off.
