‘It’s about continuing a journey’: KSS Owls will get to finish season

• KSS Owls season continues despite washed out highways
• No provincial championship due to flooding
• Grateful to continue playing

After a rough start to the season, the Kelowna Secondary School (KSS) Owls picked up steam and played their best football at the right time.

The team was initially scheduled to play in the quarter finals Friday, Nov. 19, in Port Coquitlam against Terry Fox Secondary School, a team which they lost to in the regular season.

Unfortunately, last weekend’s atmospheric river, put the remainder of their season in jeopardy.

Owls Head Coach Chris Cartwright told Kelowna10 that right now, there were bigger things to worry about than football.

“As you start to see the extent of what’s going on, my heart goes out goes to the people who are struggling right now in unprecedented times,” he said. “It’s another thing that we as a community have to try and find resiliency for in these interesting last two years.”

BC School Sports issued a statement on Wednesday, saying it will modify its championship structure to a regional style event due to the flooding which has led to a provincial state of emergency.

Cartwright said the team was still practicing days before a decision was made. The reaction from the players to the news filled Cartwright with pride.

“When I announced to my players what the next step was, all I saw was smiles, and excitement, because they got to play football still,” Cartwright said. “It gives me goosebumps when I think about it because that’s what school sports are about. It’s about continuing a journey.”

While playing for an Interior championship is not what they planned for at the start of the season, the team is thankful they get to finish it off on a positive note.

“The boys just want to play football, especially our seniors,” he said. “They want to have one more chance to be an Owl, one more chance to finish this right to know that this could be it.”

Shauna Nyrose, whose son Jack is a senior on the team, told Kelowna10 parents were initially disappointed by the possibility of not being able to see their sons play, but are now excited for the boys.

“They were just so happy that they were given an opportunity to play,” Nyrose said. “That’s all they really cared about in the end, was their season didn’t finish on a forfeit or cancelation.”

Since the announcement, there has been an outpouring of support on social media from players and parents thanking the organizations for planning a new way to finish the season and not giving up.

Coach Cartwright said he’s happy for his players, who have had a rough couple of years.

“They want to play and finish on a high, and whatever it looks like, they’re going to make the best of it,” he said. “As a coach I’m so extremely proud of them to take a situation that’s not ideal and make it a positive one.”

The Owls are in South Kamloops next weekend to play the Titans. The winner of that game will face the winner of Duchess Park versus Vernon Secondary School for the Interior championship.