In one of the biggest underdog stories in school history, the Canyon soccer team won league for the first time in 22 years this past season. I had the privilege of being able to meet and interview three of the players from the historic 2018-19 Canyon soccer team: Kyle Thomas, Gavin Lukasca, and Peter Cuevas.

Smoke Signals: First of all, congrats on the league championship and making it to Round 2 of CIF! Take me through what was going through your mind in that last shoot out game.

Kyle: I mean I was pretty nervous cause it was the first time, and we have never made it this far, so I was just hoping to do my best and score.

Gavin: When I was with all the guys in the line at mid-field I was kind of just telling them it doesn’t matter if you miss or make it, just be confident no matter what.

Peter: When we were in the huddle I was just like, nervous, but then I thought if we lose we still gotta be proud of what we accomplished, but we won and we were all just super happy.

Smoke Signals: You guys were extremely consistent, not going under .500 the whole year. How do you think you guys kept that consistency?

Gavin: I think it was definitely kudos to our coach, well both coaches (Coach Carlos and Coach Billy), just because they really strived to make us better as a whole team and that’s basically what practice is, what warm-ups are, or like a whole new system we’ve done to help this over .500 record.

Smoke Signals: Maybe as fun as playing in CIF, you guys tied VP in a 1-1 game. How do you think playing VP is different to playing any other team or even playing in CIF?

Kyle: I think playing VP [is different] because it’s like our rivals, we should’ve won though, but yeah we were happy to tie.

Smoke Signals: What about this team do you think was the biggest factor in breaking “the curse”?

Gavin: That’s a tough one. Again, I would probably say our coaches and just because our whole team was so connected–we just knew everybody–so I think that was also a big factor and also I think our skill level was above what it’s ever been before just because we all play on club teams, and, you know, we played very well this year.

Smoke Signals: How do you think this soccer season has changed your high school experience and what do you think you have taken from this historic season?

Gavin: Yeah, I think it’s never gonna change for us just because it is so historical, so I think the school will always remember it–you know, with the big banner in the gym. I think it’ll improve everybody for next year too, so hopefully we can win CIF. That’d be awesome.

Peter: It was a fun experience, it definitely made my year–winning. It was just a really fun experience that I’m never going to forget.

Kyle: Yeah, especially because it is my senior year, and that made it special to win [the CIF game] so I really enjoyed that.

Thank you to Kyle, Peter, and Gavin for answering a few questions. Go Comanches!