First place was decided, as were the final playoff teams in the Kingston Area Secondary Schools Athletic Association, in senior boys soccer play Wednesday.
At the top of the spectrum, the Kingston Blues completed an undefeated regular schedule with a 1-0 win over the previously undefeated Regiopolis Notre Dame Panthers.
The only team with a chance to match KC’s record at the beginning of the day, the Holy Cross Panthers, lost that opportunity when they managed just to tie the Frontenac Falcons in a scoreless match at Frontenac.
At the other end of the playoff draw, the Napanee Golden Hawks and Loyalist Lancers clinched post-season berths, Napanee with a 3-0 home-field win over the Ernestown Eagles and the visiting Lancers with a 2-1 win over the La Salle Black Knights.
Two games remain to be played in the regular season, and they’ll be played Monday, when Regi and Holy Cross meet in the annual Father Stan Kurusumuthu Challenge game at Miklas-McCarney Field, and Napanee plays at Loyalist.
The Regi-Holy Cross game will determine the order of finish among the three teams immediately behind KC. Going into that contest Holy Cross is 4-0-1, Regi is 4-1 and the Bayridge Blazers, having blanked Sydenham 1-0 Wednesday, have ended their season 4-1-1.
The outcome of the Loyalist-Napanee match will finalize the order of finish for the bottom three playoff teams. Napanee’s 3-0 win over Ernestown Wednesday afternoon has the Golden Hawks 2-2-1, half a game ahead of the Eagles, who are done at 2-3-1 but have clinched a playoff spot.
Loyalist could vault past them both with a win on Monday.
Frontenac, having finished its regular year 3-2-1, will finish fifth even if Napanee wins Monday, by virtue of a 5-0 win over the Golden Hawks April 29.
In Wednesday’s game at Brother O’Gara Field, a goal in the game’s 26th minute by KC’s Ben Posthumus was the game’s only score, and the flawless goalkeeping of Berg Ellemers made it stand up for the victory.
Playing at Napanee, the home team returned to .500 thanks to goals by Kody Shelley, Jake Falcao and Riley West and the shutout goalkeeping of Curtis Lambert.
At Bayridge, a goal by Josh Barrett was all the Blazers needed pin a defeat on Sydenham, one that doomed the Golden Eagles to miss the playoffs after a 1-3-2 campaign. It was the second game in a row, and the third time this year, that the Eagles were shut out.
In Wednesday's other game, a goal on a penalty kick by Aaron Keefe lifted the Granite Ridge Gryphons to their first win of the year, a 1-0 verdict over the winless Marie-Rivier Dragons. Playing at Miklas-McCarney Field, Aaden Kempe posted the shutout.