A goal by Matthew Shannik midway through the opening half gave the Burnaby South Rebels the district title-winning goal over Burnaby North in high school boys' soccer.
Shannik, who was dangerous around the net all game long, tallied the lone goal of the game in the 20th minute off a clever through ball from centre midfielder Jayson Santiago to give South a 1-0 victory over North at Cariboo Oval on Wednesday.
The win gave South the championship district bannner and the No. 1 Burnaby/New Westminster seeding heading into next week's zone playdowns with the North Shore.
North will also contest the zones as the No. 2 seed. Both teams will play their provincial qualifiers at Sutherland Turf in North Vancouver after school on Monday.
Minutes after Shannik's go-ahead tally, South keeper Alex Marroquin made what turned out to be the save of the game at the other end of the pitch.
The play started with a clearing volley from centre field that was crossed into the box by Tyron Stojanov.
Incredibly, Alberto Ghisi first-timed the hard cross directly on goal, only to be stopped by Marroquin, who then gobbled up the enusing rebound that glanced off the far post and slowly bounced near the goal line.
Ghisi also delivered a hard shot in the second half that Marroquin saved.
The Grade 11 Rebel keeper also had to be Johnny-on-the-spot on a solid strike from A.J. Cosco later in the second half.
"I saw the ball and just tried to react and I got a piece of it," said Marroquin of the big first-half save after the game. "We (South) kept the ball away from them and didn't give them many shots. We didn't give them anything."
South enjoyed a majority of the possession in the opening half, but play became more even after the go-ahead goal.
Shannik was in on a bushelful of opportunities at the other end for the Rebels, but South had to settle for the one-game win.
Perhaps South's best chance in the second half ocurred early in the stanza when Shannik sent Tyler Leonard in alone and the senior midfielder skied a rocket over the North crossbar.
For North, Anthony Sulentic and Marco Rota also had chances in the first half of play, but both their strikes also just missed the mark.
The Record player of the game was Santiago, who had his foot on the ball throughout the match.
But North, 2-0 upset winners over regular season champion Burnaby Central in the district semifinals earlier in the week, still has a shot at a provincial berth, said head Laurent Scaligine.
"We'll see," said Scaligine. "We'll take it one game at a time."
Next week, the Rebels will play North Shore champions Argyle, with the winner earning the No. 1 zone berth into the provincial championships.
The losing school will get the opportunity of earning the second zone berth against the winner of the No. 2 teams.
North must play the winner of either Sentinel or West Vancouver, which was played today (after Record deadlines).
The B.C. high school AAA boys' soccer championships will be played at Burnaby Lake Sports Complex-West Nov. 24 to 26.
