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U18 “meet in the middle” in soccer battle

Kamloops team stars 100 Mile resident Reid Davidson
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With the green grass out, many parents and fans turned out for the first games of the season.

For some, the highlight of the weekend was an exhibition game between the Kamloops and Prince George U18 teams.

The game had it all, numerous goals, a miraculous penalty save and lots of stellar defending.

On of those defenders was 100 Mile House local Reid Davidson, who’s been playing for the Kamloops Blaze for the past four years.

“It was definitely different than travelling to Kamloops every weekend, but it felt good to have my friends and family come out and watch me here,” says Davidson.

He says playing for the Kamloops team means a lot of travel.

“Definitely get used to it by now. It gets a little tiring with schoolwork and managing social life and all that but I’m able to get it done. It’s nice to get a break from that for one weekend.”

According to Davidson, he chooses to play for the Kamloops Blaze because of the higher skill level.

“I’ve tried to play Williams Lake and here but both teams have fallen apart. Kamloops is the next closest place with a high-level team so I think that was the best option for me and it’s worked out pretty well for me so far.”

Davidson is hoping to make it to provincials this season and do well there, as well as getting a few more tournaments in.

“Right now, we’re tied for first place in our league so we’re hoping to get the league title too.”

Davidson is looking at playing for Vancouver Island University next season.

“Right now it’s undetermined what will happen in total but he wants me to keep coming over and practice with the team so hopefully something good will happen there.”

Unfortunately for Davidson fans, the exhibition game against Prince George ended in a loss.

“It could have gone better for sure. We didn’t have a very good first half, the second half was a lot better and more competitive… Hopefully the next time we play them we can get a better result, but it was pretty fun having the home crowd here.”

According to Davidson, Prince George is a tough team to play.

“We’ve played them with our school team, it’s basically the same guys all around. Yeah, they’re a really skilled team and they can move the ball pretty well. So we just gotta be able to be a lot more physical the next time we play against them and move the ball around a lot better.”

Part-time 100 Mile resident Masen Fernandes, who also plays for the Kamloops Blaze, had to sit the game out due to a previously acquired red card. Fernandes will be playing for the Midland University Warriors in the U.S. next.