Four teams from Stettler have qualified for the Alberta Tier 4 rural soccer championships, and two of them go in as gold-medallists in the Central Alberta provincial playdowns.
The Stettler under-18 boys and under-12 boys each won the regional-champion ticket in their respective weekend tournaments at Stettler.
The under-18 team rebounded from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Rimbey 5-2 in Sunday’s championship game at the Stettler Sports Park. Stettler is bound for the provincials July 5-7 in Lacombe.
The top-seeded Stettler Snipers (Yellow) under-12 boys beat Camrose-P FC 3-1 in their final to earn a berth in the provincials July 5-7 at Three Hills.
On the same weekend, two other Stettler clubs host provincial championship tournaments. They’re the under-18 girls, who lost 4-1 to Lacombe in the regional-qualifier final Sunday at Stettler, and the under-16 boys, who lost both of their weekend games in the regional playdowns.
Before the under-18 girls host Lacombe and other provincial qualifiers, Stettler visits Lacombe tonight for their league championship game.
In the provincial playdowns at Stettler fields:
UNDER-18 BOYS — Before the comeback win over Rimbey in the final, Stettler posted two wins and a tie in preliminary play. Stettler edged Lacombe — the provincial host — and Sylvan Lake, both by 2-1 counts, and tied Rimbey 3-3.
UNDER-18 GIRLS — Stettler reached the final after beating Rimbey 4-2 and tying Rocky Mountain House 3-3.
UNDER-16 BOYS — Stettler lost 4-0 to Rocky Mountain House on Sunday after falling 7-1 to Lacombe, which returns to Stettler for the provincials later next week.
In the regional final, Lacombe topped Ponoka 5-1.
UNDER-16 GIRLS — Stettler lost three games — 2-1 to Ponoka and Lacombe and 3-1 to Rocky Mountain House.
Ponoka blanked Lacombe 1-0 in the final. Both of those teams advance to the provincials July 5-7 at Ponoka.
UNDER-14 BOYS — In the B Division, Stettler placed third after losing 5-2 to Ponoka, tying Rocky Mountain House 2-2 and blanking Rimbey 3-0.
In the final, Ponoka edged Rocky 1-0 to earn a berth in the under-14 provincials, set for July 5-7 at Edson.
UNDER-14 GIRLS — In B Division play, Stettler lost 9-1 Camrose, 5-1 to Rimbey and 4-2 to Lacombe.
Rimbey took the B title with a 1-0 win over Camrose.
On the A side, Sylvan Lake doubled the Camrose Predators
4-2 to qualify for the under-14 provincials at Edson.
UNDER-12 BOYS — En route to their gold-medal finish, the Stettler Snipers defeated the Stettler Spartans 3-1 and Sylvan Lake 6-1. In their other game, the Spartans lost 3-2 to Camrose-P FC.
See more photos in this week’s edition of the Stettler Independent.