It is that time again for muggy gyms on cool nights and that unmistakable squeak of sneakers on hardwood.
Grade 12 point-guard Jaden Touchie, who has already committed to the University of Victoria Vikes next season in U Sports, has the Oak Bay Bays ranked No. 4 in the opening B.C. quadruple-A boys’ high school basketball top-10 poll.
“Jaden is a highly-competitive player and a defensive stopper,” said Bays coach Chris Franklin.
An emphasis on the defensive side of the ball is not something you see every day in high school players.
“Jaden is a special player . . . so athletic and quick and very good defensively, the latter which you don’t always see in players coming out of high school,” said Vikes coach Craig Beaucamp, of his prize recruit.
“He has a passion and loves the game. He will step in and help us right away.”
But not before helping the Bays toward their provincial championship quest this season.
Other B.C. ranked teams from the Island, as the boys’ high school hoops season opens today, are the Nanaimo Islanders at No. 5 and Mark Isfeld Ice of Courtenay No. 7 in the provincial triple-A poll; St. Michaels University School Blue Jags are No. 1, Lambrick Park Lions No. 3, Brentwood College No. 5 and the Parkland Panthers honourable mention in double-A; and Duncan Chargers 10th in single-A.
“Nobody will outwork SMUS,” said Lambrick Park coach Ed Somers, of rival Ian Hyde Lay’s always-tenacious Blue Jags, who begin the season as the top-ranked double-A team in B.C.
“There are a lot of good teams and players on the Island this season,” added Somers.
Some are on his own Lions team, including his dynamic Grade 12 twin sons Calvin and Austin Somers.
“It’s that twins connection they have . . . they find each other in open space,” said Somers, who has won six B.C. championships in his more than 25 seasons coaching at Lambrick Park.
While the Somers twins weave their magic in the backcourt, six-foot-five forward Evin Gill and six-foot-three Grade 10 player Luke De Greef do the damage up front for the Lions.
The Lower Island league is split between Tier 1 and Tier 2 and teams can declare for either tier, regardless of school size.
“I really like this league structure,” said Somers, whose double-A Lions have opted to player Tier 1.
“Teams can decide whether they are rebuilding and go Tier 2 or whether they have veteran units that can play Tier 1. We leave it up to the schools to see what is the best fit for them. It makes for much better regular-season games and has been a highly successful format. Then for Lower Island, Island and B.C. playoffs, teams go back into their regular classifications from single-A to quad-A.”
The Lower Island season opens tonight at 7:30 with Tier 2 league games featuring Stelly’s at St. Andrews, Glenlyon Norfolk at PCS and Royal Bay at Vic High. The Tier 2 season consists of 12 teams in a single round-robin regular season and also includes Spectrum, Reynolds, Edward Milne, Royal Bay, Esquimalt and Mount Douglas.
The re-emergent Vic High Totems, who last season made it to the Island championships for the first time at any level since 1994-95, will continue their renaissance storyline this season in Tier 2.
The Tier 1 season begins Dec. 6 and consists of Lambrick Park, Claremont, SMUS, Oak Bay, Belmont and Parkland.
Belmont surprisingly got no love from the top-10 pollsters in the pre-season quad-A rankings, but there isn’t a rival coach on the Island who doesn’t mention Kevin Brown’s Bulldogs as a team that will be a major force this season.
“Belmont is going to be very good,” predicted Oak Bay coach Franklin.
But the Bulldogs will have to go through the Bays’ imposing front wall, which includes six-foot-six Riley Cronk and Andrew Pittman and six-foot-four Isiah Romanow and Cam Henderson.
The 2017 Island quad-A championship tournament will be hosted by Belmont in February.
ON THE PITCH: The B.C. triple-A champion Reynolds Roadrunners and B.C. double-A champion SMUS Blue Jags meet tonight in the Colonist Cup boys’ Lower Island soccer final at 7 at Centennial Stadium.
