The South Okanagan Flames are six points ahead of the Vernon Tigers in the fight for second place in the 2019 Thompson-Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League season after their stunning victory on Wednesday night.
The Flames completed a regular season road sweep of the Tigers on June 5, scoring a 12-10 win at Kal Tire Place in Vernon. South Okanagan went 2-0-1 in Vernon and are 4-0-1 against the defending champs with two meetings left, both at the Penticton Memorial Arena.
READ MORE: South Okanagan Flames continue season mastery of Vernon Tigers
Jake Macleod’s powerplay goal at 19:07 of the third broke a 10-10 tie, and Fred Harbinson locked away the win with an empty net goal with 13 seconds remaining.
Cairo Rogers scored four times for the Flames, including three in the first period, and Alex Nimmo scored on the game’s first shot 20 seconds after the national anthem as the Flames led 5-4.
They extended the edge to 8-4 with three goals in the first five minutes of the second period before the Tigers roared back with four straight to make the game 8-8 heading into the third period.
South Okanagan (4-5-1) is now six points ahead of the Tigers (1-7-1) in the battle for second place, and home-floor advantage in the best-of-three league semifinal.
READ MORE: South Okanagan Flames torch Vernon Tigers for 20
On Monday, the Kamloops Venom came out on top with a 15-8 victory over the Flames.
South Okanagan is seven points behind the front-running Kamloops Venom (8-1). The team needs only one point in their final five games to clinch first place and a bye into the league’s best-of-five final.
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