A quick start went a long way in helping Christ the King Elementary School to an outstanding finish at the 2008 Yukon Elementary Schools soccer championships.

In what turned into a high scoring affair, Christ the King captured the gold medal, downing the Jack Hulland Ravens 5-2 Saturday at the F.H. Collins soccer field.

"It's pretty exciting because the children worked very hard as a team and they were so sportsmanlike throughout the whole tournament that it's kind of like the icing on the cake," said Betty Burns, co-coach of the Christ the King soccer team. Jarrett Malchow didn't waste anytime, notching the first goal to put Christ the King on the board in the first couple of minutes of the opening half.

Malchow's goal was perfectly placed, finding the inside of the post to give Christ the King a 1-0 advantage.

After more than a few chances generated by both schools, Mike Bennett increased Christ the King's lead just before the conclusion of the first half.

Bennett fired a hard shot past Ravens' goaltender Ti Nordahl that found the right-hand side of net. The score at the end of 30 minutes was 2-0 for Christ the King.

Bennett added to his overall goal total in the second, scoring once again on a high shot that found the top corner of the net.

Less than one minute later, Bennett completed the hat trick to give Christ the King a 4-0 lead, nearing the halfway point of the second.

Malchow netted Christ the King's final goal of the game at the 20 minute mark of the contest to give the school a commanding 5-0 advantage.

Despite being down by five goals, the Ravens didn't give up and a penalty kick shifted the momentum in their favour when Jack Hulland's Tanner Borsa got his team on the board with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game.

Borsa wasn't finished and before the end of the game, he brought his team within three goals after running by two defenders and firing a low shot into the back of the net.

However, this would be as close as the Ravens would get and the game ended shortly after with the score remaining at 5-2.

Bennett, 12, had an outstanding tournament for Christ the King, finishing with 16 goals at the championships.

"I thought we would do good because we had a lot of players who have played before, so I thought we would definitely make it to the final," he said.

Bennett, who has been playing soccer since he was four years old, said it felt good winning the tournament.

Fiona Bakica, also a coach for Christ the King, said it was an overall team victory for the school.

"Even though we had some very talented players, we had some kids that had never played soccer before," she said.

"They embraced those kids as part of the team and included them. It was an overall team effort, even from our brand new players who got in there and took the ball away from the other side."

Bakica said some of the team's strengths included the hard work that was displayed by the players.

"They never gave up," she said. "If they fell down and something had happened, they just got up and kept going."

David Michayluk, the coach of the Jack Hulland Ravens, said he was proud of the way his team played at the championships.

"They had a great tournament," he said. "We had a lot of keeners on our team and you can really notice the difference between the first game of the tournament and this last game, so they were a great team and they showed a lot of good sportsmanship and effort."

The championships began on Friday and, besides the Christ the King and the Jack Hulland Ravens, it featured Ecole Emilie Tremblay, Golden Horn, Whitehorse Elementary, Hidden Valley, Holy Family, Takhini, Selkirk, Elijah Smith and the Jack Hulland Hawks.

All of the playoff games were held on Saturday, with the gold medal game at F.H. Collins, while Vanier hosted the bronze medal affair.

Both Takhini and Ecole Emilie Tremblay held the consolation finals.

As a result of the consolation finals, all of the players who competed in the soccer tournament were guaranteed a medal.

In the bronze medal game, the Jack Hulland Hawks edged out Whitehorse Elementary, winning by a close score of 2-1.

The gold medal game for the consolation A final was won by Ecole Emilie Tremblay, which beat Golden Horn by five goals, winning 6-1.

Hidden Valley dominated its consolation A bronze medal contest, winning 8-0 over Holy Family.

Takhini Elementary won by a decisive score of 7-1 in the consolation B final game over Elijah Smith.