The Pemberton Secondary School Red Devils boys’ soccer team secured another historic finish and was once again the top public-school squad at this past weekend’s (Nov. 3 to 5) Boys A Provincial Soccer Championship in Kamloops.

Pemberton won all of its group stage games to advance to the medal round of the 16-team tournament and settled for a fourth-place finish. It’s the best result at the provincial tournament in the Red Devils’ history, topping the team’s fifth-place standing in 2010.

Pemberton captain Soren Elsay said the team’s players will thrilled with their performance in the tournament and with reaching the provincial semifinal for the first time.

“We played really well,” said the Grade 12 student. “(Winning our group) was the goal. Obviously finishing out of the medals was a bit of a disappointment, but we still have a lot to be proud of — doing something that no Pemberton team has ever done.”

Head coach Paul Selina said only one other public school cracked the tournament’s top 10, finishing in ninth position. Selina was impressed with the effort level from his entire roster over the team’s five games.

“The boys did exceptionally well,” said Selina. “It was just a great team effort. There were certainly key players but no superstars — just a good sense of togetherness and morale that saw them through.”

Though the Devils went undefeated in their group to reach the playoff medal round, there were a couple of tense moments early in the tournament. Pemberton first knocked off Fraser Lake 3-0 on a pair of goals from Elsay and another by Patrick Henry. From there, the Devils eked out one-goal victories over Immaculata and Credo Christian High School.

Arnold Dan and Robin Esseltine tallied in the 2-1 win over Credo, with Pemberton netting the go-ahead marker in the final five minutes.

That put the Devils into a semifinal against Victoria’s St. Andrews School but Pemberton was only able to muster one goal from Brodie Hauser in a 3-1 defeat. They later fell 3-0 to zone rivals from West Point Grey Academy in the bronze-medal match.

St. Andrews went on to capture the provincial title, making it the second-straight year that the eventual champs ended Pemberton’s hopes of a B.C. crown.

“I guess that says we’re right up there with everybody else. We’ve put a good scare into the eventual champs two years in a row now, so teams will be lining up to play us,” laughed Elsay. “But I think it says a lot about how far we’ve come in the last couple years.”

Elsay is one of several players the team will lose to graduation, though the captain said he thinks the Devils are well-positioned to have another strong season in 2012.

But for Selina, this group will be tough to replace.

“Of my seven years coaching at the high school, this was one of the most pleasing years because I felt the team was very coachable and it was very much a team rather than individuals,” Selina said of his squad, which was a fairly even split of players from Pemberton, Mount Currie and the surrounding area.

Other players on this year’s roster were vice-captain Lane Gobert, Toby Eslake, Sean Russell, Liam Falloon, Sam Schranz, Maadison Jones, Barren Gabriel, Clint Samuels, Simon Walsh, Phil Bowden, Michael Fidork, Cain Coulson and Layne Gabriel.

Selina also thanked Ted Gobert and Mark Leverton for their help with the team, as well as the Pemberton community for its financial support of the team.