The much coveted Challenge Plaque still resides in Quesnel.
The Quesnel Fury and Blue Jackets defended the inter-municipal trophy last Wednesday against their rivals from Prince George.
The Challenge Plaque pits the local 'B' and 'C' level special olympics teams against their Prince George counterparts in two meets during the season. The winners over the course of the two meets take home the plaque.
It's a challenge Quesnel has risen to meet.
"It's our third win in the last three years and the fourth win in the six years we've competed for the plaque," Rick Prosk, head coach of both local teams, said.
In Wednesday's 'C' level meet the Blue Jackets had a bit of a difficult time with the P.G. Flame Kickers, the game being a back-and-forth affair.
Up 2-1 at half-time on goals from Cory Melnychuk and Travis Burt, the Blue Jackets were looking good, which continued into the second half with another goal by Burt, who was playing with a sore ankle. However, the Flame Kickers weren't content to just let it be, and worked hard to come back, resulting in a tie at full time.
Second up, the 'B' level Fury played against their Prince George counterparts. The Fury lived up to their name in the game, near steam rolling the Prince George team.
"The Fury played much better on Wednesday than they did in their 2-1 game in Prince George," Prosk said.
By half time the Fury were up 4-0, on the backs of Rob Bieswanger, with two, Scott Jonassen, and Clayton Bauder. In the second half the dominance continued with, Bieswanger scoring again, Jerman Severeid (the goalkeeper) scoring twice after coming out to play forward and Max Nelson netting a point. The Prince George team, however, was only able to sneak one past Severeid, for a final of 8-1.
Both the Fury and the Blue Jackets are coming off a successful season with the wins against Prince George and the Special Olympics Region three soccer qualifiers in Mission, a qualifier for the provincial games next year, where the Fury came second in their division and the Blue Jackets came third in theirs.
They are currently waiting for the
powers that be to select the regional representatives
for the provincial games.