OLDS — The École Olds High School junior varsity (JV) boys team is having a strong season, especially given the fact they often play against senior teams, head coach Jason Drent says.
As of last week, their record stood at 6-2 (2-2 in League play).
“We had a very successful tournament last weekend in Rocky Mountain House, coming away with a consolation victory against HJ Cody from Sylvan Lake,” Drent wrote in an email.
He said the team was anticipating heading south for tournaments in Oilfields and High River.
“We are looking forward to the competition, as we will face teams from the south who typically field very competitive teams,” Drent wrote.
The Spartans continue to play in the Chinook's Edge School Senior League and “have had close competition with senior teams across CESD South,” he added.
Drent is pleased with how his team has grown as the season has progressed.
“We have seen real improvement in embracing the speed of play at the senior level, which will be important, as many of our players will move to the senior team next year,” he wrote.
“I have seen significant improvement in our transition from defense to offence, our ability to move the ball, and shift from a man-to-man to zone defence, depending on the offence we are seeing.
“I was particularly happy with our press (during our) last tournament. We were able to put significant pressure on their back court, causing a number of turnovers early in the game that put us ahead in some key games.”
However, there’s still more work to be done.
“We are still working hard on consistency across all four quarters of the game,” Drent wrote.
“Overall, I am very happy with how competitive our JV boys are in the senior league and am looking forward to continuing to have success within our league and tournament play.”
