The Morden Thunder are Provincial Rural High School Boys Soccer champions for the first time in school history.

The Thunder defeated the Steinbach Regional Secondary School 1-0 in the final Saturday afternoon at Hespeler Park in Niverville.

“It’s exciting,” said Morden coach David Duerksen. “The guys worked hard for that. I’m proud of them and glad for the team.”

Turay Mamadou scored the lone goal of the game late in the first half and that 1-0 lead stood up the rest of the way.

“We needed to play strong defensively which we did and not get out of our passing game,” said coach Duerksen when asked why his soccer team was able to end the Sabres two-year reign as provincial champions. “The guys can pass the ball well and work it up the field and we needed to keep that in mind and not feel the pressure too much and just know that we can do that. The guys did that for the most part.”

The Thunder went undefeated in capturing the Zone 4 championship banner and added three more wins in Niverille.

Morden midfielder Erik Buchsmann said it was a special six weeks for a Thunder team who won the third place game one year ago in Winkler.

“It’s been commitment all season - practices and games," said Buchsmann. "We knew coming into this one we weren’t going to come out here and beat these guys easily. It was a hard fought battle. I can’t believe how proud I am of these guys. It’s amazing how great our team is.”

Buchsmann was also named the Most Valuable Player at the 2017 Provincial Rural High School Soccer Championship.

“I thank my coach and the guys for helping me out because it definitely wasn’t an individual effort.”

The Thunder defeated the Stonewall Rams 3-2 in the quarterfinals and downed the Garden Valley Zodiacs 3-1 in the semifinals.

Morden girls brought home the finalist banner from the provincials.

The Minnedosa Chancellors beat the Thunder 1-0 in the championship game.