By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
The Osoyoos Secondary School Rattlers Senior Boys basketball team qualified for the provincials this past weekend by finishing third in the Okanagan Valley championships.
Only 16 teams in the province make the provincial championships in the single A category. The provincials will be held at the Langley Event Center on March 6-9.
This past weekend at A.L. Fortune Secondary School in Enderby the Osoyoos Rattlers senior boys basketball “punched their ticket to the ‘big dance’ provincial championship,” the team coaches said.
The Rattlers started slow losing their Valley Tournament opening game to Vernon Christian 68-60 but followed up by beating Desert Sands 72-49, Aberdeen Hall 73-55 and Vernon Christian 72-45 to earn the third and final berth for the Okanagan.
The Rattlers were led by tournament all-star guard Preston Pederson and game all-stars Jackson Lake and Armaan Gill. Parwan Sidhu and Chris Bojanowksi also played pivotal roles in passing and rebounding, according to Head Coach Gene Lockerby.
“Their hard work started after the completion of a disappointing previous season,” he added. With determination, they set the difficult goal of making it to the 16 team provincial championships in Langley, BC.
“The team dedicated themselves to hard work and continuous improvement on a more positive team culture,” Lockerby said.
The message from Athletic Director Samantha Wiebe and the coaching staff was “do the work and the results will come”. The team chant for the Valleys was “Work!”
The hard work paid off for the Rattlers, who turned in a very good performance this year with the team posting a 20 wins – 6 losses overall record which spun last year’s 5 wins – 20 losses on its head.
Lockerby also highlighted that the team results would not be possible without the support of Wiebe who was dedicated to building the program for both boys and girls from grade 8-12 through Rattler Rookie Camps.
The Rattlers are seeking any donations to help offset the significant financial burden of spending five days of travel, hotels and other expenses for the provincials.
A bottle and cash donation drive will be held this Sat from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. at Osoyoos Secondary School’s back parking lot. Pick up also available. Contact Rattlers’ Head Coach Gene Lockerby at [email protected] to arrange pick up or make a donation. E-transfers can be made directly to the school at [email protected]
