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St. Michaels Blue Jags defeat Glenlyon Norfolk Gryphons to end Colonist Cup drought

Apparently, the idiom is all wrong. The fourth time is the charm. Or at least it was for the St. Michaels University School Blue Jags.
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Tuesday: St. Michaels University School goalkeeper Bryce Fenton makes a stop on Glenlyon Norfolk School striker Mackenzie Cole during the Colonist Cup final at Centennial Stadium.

Apparently, the idiom is all wrong.

The fourth time is the charm.

Or at least it was for the St. Michaels University School Blue Jags.

Having lost the previous three encounters with the Glenlyon Norfolk School Gryphons this season, the Blue Jags finally claimed the fourth. It came at a pivotal time as SMUS scored three second-half goals in a wildly contested 3-2 victory on Tuesday night to claim the school’s second ever Colonist Cup championship, emblematic of the city senior boys soccer crown.

Down 2-0 at the half, the Blue Jags rode a pair of left-footed goals from Michael Baart, book-ending Brian Im’s header to secure SMUS’s first Colonist Cup win since 2006.

“It did come down to belief, to be honest with you,” said SMUS head coach Wes Barrett. “Coming into the change-room, everyone was pretty down, as you usually are when you’re down 2-0. Everyone just kind of got everyone up, got the attitudes right and I just said, ‘We have to believe.’ That’s what we did.”

The confidence grew, to a man, as the Blue Jags looked like a different team in the second half.

The game changed with the first SMUS goal as Baart delivered a long left-footer over GNS keeper Chris Wieczorek early in the second half. Kieran Large then hit the post before Im evened it up at 2-2 in the 58th minute. Baart re-directed the winner in the 65th minute and the Blue Jags then withstood a ferocious late charge.

“That was the message at the half — belief,” SMUS team co-captain Large. “We had to believe we could score; believe that we could stop their attack because they were all over us in the first half, eight shots to two.

“We came out a new team and we wanted to win this real bad. And I have to tell you, it feels pretty good,” said Large.

The Gryphons were looking to sweep the entire 2013 season, hoping to add the Colonist Cup to their B.C. Independent Schools crown and single-A Island and provincial championships — the latter coming last Friday in a 4-1 victory over West Point Grey Academy in Abbotsford.

On Tuesday, Jyotish Khanna’s shot snuck through SMUS keeper Bryce Fenton and just over the line 10 minutes in and then and Jason Bradbury made it 2-0 on a penalty kick in the 25th minute for the Gryphons, who seemed to lose their composure, only to get it back very late.

But a series of chances to tie it slipped away on a wet, foggy pitch at Centennial Stadium at the University of Victoria. Andrew Hindi’s glorious chance went wide in the last minute.

“I’ve coached a very long time and I can’t explain what happened in the second half,” said GNS director of soccer, Hugh Williams. “All the credit to St. Michaels. I think when you’ve had the results you’ve had against us this year and you’re trailing like that, in a game of this magnitude, it takes huge character to pull it out.

“We had a superb first half and there was only one criticism of my team in the first half: The game should have been over because we were completely dominant. Soccer is a funny game though,” added Williams.

“SMUS had a 4-1 lead on us at the Independent School championship with 10 [minutes] to go and we got three and won it in a shootout. In soccer, you have to put a team away. I suppose it’s a lesson learned. I don’t know because it is the last game for 13 of our Grade 12s tonight and I feel very sad for them. They deserved better,” Williams added.

It was sheer joy on the other side.

“Coming off Islands and not making it through was a bit of a disappointment, but coming out here today and winning it really makes up for it,” said Baart, the other SMUS co-captain, who was magical on the night, as he has been all year.

The Blue Jags did not qualify for double-A provincials last week.

“Tough not to make those,” said Barrett. “It was hard on the boys and they deserved this, the way they came back. The first half GNS was fantastic and they deserved it, maybe a goal more. But it was a great effort by our boys and this was a great time for the boys to do it.”

mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com