BCSS REDZONE WEEK 6

Same story different ending; Hyacks learn from mistakes amidst deja vu

The New Westminster Hyacks found themselves in a familiar position Friday night. After the Hyacks had regained their lead in the final minutes, the Terry Fox Ravens had the ball back within their possession with a chance for a walk-off score.

The last time New Westminster was in this position was two weeks ago against Robert Bateman. This exact scenario didn’t go the Hyacks’ way as they watched their opponents find the endzone in the game’s final moments, in what was an emotionally draining, heartbreaking defeat for the team. On a Third down, with the Hyacks’ defence likely feeling a bit of deja vu, Ravens running back Bobby Tilley took a direct snap on a trick play.

Let’s rewind and talk about how we got to this moment. Both teams’ offences were running on all cylinders from the moment the game kicked off. Ravens quarterback Firth Ben was outstanding for his team. Ben found the endzone on a designed keeper, threw darts to receiver Jacob Trudeau on two separate occasions for majors and converted a 3rd and 12 that extended a Ravens drive, leading to a rushing major deep in the Hyacks’ redzone.

The Hyacks’ offensive attack was as balanced as it has been all season. Anyone who’s watched the team this year has been treated to the Kah’ri Johnson show. Tonight was no different as Johnson had roughly 175 yards rushing, which puts him over 1000 yards already on the season. The biggest difference in this game was the efficiency of quarterback Gavin Rai and the ability of other Hyacks’ playmakers to answer the bell when their name was called.

“I’m proud of our Team and our offence. It was a strong all-around performance both on the ground and in the air. We distributed the ball well to different guys and many players contributed to our success offensively,” said Hyacks’ offensive coordinator Darnell Sikorski.

“With Fox game planning to take Johnson away, we had other guys like Ilya Korenevskiy, Eli Smith, Nigel DeRasp and Joey Baker all make plays for us tonight.”

Rai sat in the pocket and delivered strikes to his targets, showing excellent timing and poise within the pocket all game long. His biggest completion of the night was when he rolled to his right on a designed QB boot and delivered a fade ball to Eli Smith, who burned his defender and caught Rai’s perfect pass in stride for six.

Hyacks’ head coach Andrew McKechnie reiterated the impact those around Johnson made on Friday night.

The importance of depth as you get deeper in the season is absolutely massive if you want to be contending come November,” said McKechnie

“As a staff, we’ve been waiting for some of our key grade 11s to take that next step forward, like we know they’re fully capable of and Ilya Korenevskiy and Alex Morosoff stepped right up without missing a beat when their names were called.”

Korenevskiy went far beyond taking a step forward as the junior running back/ linebacker had his breakout game at the senior level. Korenevskiy got his first chance to be a feature back alongside Johnson and didn’t disappoint. He racked up yards on off-tackle runs, finding the endzone in the process. But for how good Korenevskiy was pounding the rock, his biggest play of the night was yet to come.

With under a minute to go down by five, Ravens running back Bobby Tilley took that direct snap mentioned earlier, rolled to his right and looked to throw down the left sideline to Firth on a trick play. From his linebacker position, Korenevskiy flipped his hips and undercut Firth on his wheel route. He elevated and snagged Tilley’s pass at his highest point for an interception, ensuring a 32-27 Hyack Victory.

“I feel like everyone pulled together at every spot. We called on our players to elevate their play this week after two straight losses and when we needed it most, they did,” said McKechnie.

It’s very easy for individuals to dwell on the past, fold when things get hard and never learn from their mistakes. The Hyacks chose to do the opposite on Friday and because of that, came away with a gritty win.

Fighting Irish Bounce Back in Dominant 55-0 Win Over Carson Graham

Courtesy: VC Athletics

After a rare two-game skid, the Vancouver College Fighting Irish returned home to O’Hagan Field with something to prove, and they did just that. In a complete team performance, the Irish shut out the Carson Graham Eagles 55-0 Saturday afternoon, marking their first win of the regular season and a strong statement that the Irish are back on track.

From the opening kickoff, the energy was different. The Irish defence came out firing, forcing multiple turnovers that led directly to points and contributed two touchdowns of their own. The offence found its rhythm early, executing key plays that helped seal the game long before the final whistle.

“It was great to finally play at home after the past few weeks on the road,” said Head Coach Bryan Chiu (VC ‘92).

“The boys played hard and our defence had an outstanding game. We still have a lot to work on in order to get to where we want to be.”

Assistant Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator Regen Oey (VC ‘16) echoed that message, emphasizing both the challenge and the growth from the matchup.

“Carson Graham is a well-coached program, and the team responded well to their challenge. All phases of the game need to improve, but it was nice to get back in the win column.”

With this decisive victory, the Irish improve to 1-2 and regain momentum heading into next week’s matchup. Vancouver College will host the Belmont Bulldogs on Saturday, October 18th at 1:30 PM on the historic O’Hagan Field for their annual Faith, Family, Football game, another opportunity to keep building toward championship form. 

Knights remain undefeated

The St. Thomas More Knights remain undefeated after a 35-0 win over the Seaquam Seahawks on Friday. The Knights are perfect in conference play and remain tied for first in the AAA Central Division with the Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers.

The Knights continue to play winning football each week, pounding the rock and grinding down opponents’ defences, while stifling opposing offences with creative designs up front as well as in the back end.

The Seahawks played hard all night, without their starting quarterback, Jaxon Shannon and star tailback Remy Grewal. Losing both playmakers made moving the ball all too difficult for Seaquam.

The Knights’ defence took full advantage, led by Cristian Coletta’s five tackles and an interception, as well as Anthony Donovan’s five tackles and two sacks, on their way to a shutout.

The Knights’ offence was mostly healthy and firing on all cylinders. Cristian Coletta led the Knights with 99 yards of total offence, most of which came in the first half, where he scored the 1st and final touchdowns of the game. One early on from one yard out and a 65-yard run on the opening drive of the second half to cap the scoring at 35.

Milano Peloso and Isaiah Smith also had rushing scores for the Knights, while Kingston Ram scored his first rushing touchdown of the season in the 2nd quarter.

The Knights now start preparation for a gruelling three-game stretch as they take on Lord Tweedsmuir, Centennial and New Westminster in the final weeks of the regular season.

Jugglers make it three in a row with win over Bulldogs

The Notre Dame Jugglers extended their winning streak to three games with a 29-21 victory over the Belmont Bulldogs. That big win now puts Notre Dame in sole possession of first place in the AAA West division.

The Jugglers leaned on star quarterback Caleb Parrotta in a tight back-and-forth game. The gunslinger delivered again whenever head coach Dennis Kelly called his number. Parrotta started things off by finding Receiver Michael MacLeod for a 28-yard touchdown pass and then, after the Jugglers forced the Bulldogs to concede a safety, Parrotta found Nico Malet-Veale for another passing major to put the Jugglers up 16-0 late in the second quarter.

Belmont threatened to score just before halftime, but some great defensive efforts led to the Jugglers bending but not breaking and maintaining a two-possession lead.

Belmont came out after the break and scored on a 40-yard run by running back Chase Doucette, to narrow ND’s lead to 16-6. Belmont then seized the momentum of the game as they forced a rare mistake by Parrotta, intercepting a pass and returning it 50 yards for a touchdown.

The ensuing 2-point conversion was successful and the score was 16-14 at the end of the third quarter. Within a matter of moments, a 16-point lead had almost all but evaporated. With their backs against the wall for the first time all afternoon, The Jugglers rallied behind their dynamic duo.

The Jugglers drove the ball deep into Bulldogs’ territory before Parrotta threw his third touchdown of the day, finding MacLeod, this time from 15 yards out.

Notre Dame’s defence came up with a massive stop on the next drive and put the ball back in their star’s hands. This time, Parrotta exploded into the open field and ran away from the Bulldogs’ defenders on his way to a 30-yard rushing score to put his team up by two scores, 29-14.

Belmont got the ball back and answered, but it was too late. ND got the ball back with the score 29-21 and ran out the rest of the clock to secure a well-deserved victory.

Jugglers head coach Dennis Kelly was pleased with the overall effort of his squad and remarked that Belmont was a very worthy, physical opponent destined to give many teams trouble this season.

Kelly also commended his defence, particularly linebackers Sayj Gill and Anson Cheung, as well as defensive linemen Diante Villegas and Dominik Mouro and cornerback Sahij Gill.

Notre Dame will host the Sardis Falcons next Friday for their “Seniors Night game. This special game celebrates the team’s current grade 12s and their families’ commitment throughout their time with the Jugglers program.

Maroons back on track with decisive win

The Fulton Maroons got back in the win column with a 50-6 victory over Pleasant Valley. The Maroons were one week removed from their worst performance of the season, a 47-7 loss against South Kamloops. From the opening whistle, Fulton was back to their high standard of play.

“This was a solid game for our club. We rebounded after a poor effort last week. I thought we executed well in all three phases of the game. Credit PVSS, they came in short-handed and had a few JV’s play up. They fought all game,” said Maroons head coach Mike Scheller.

Fulton may have played well in all three phases, but Scheller says one of his team’s units took its play to new heights.

“Our defence played smart and fast and probably had their best outing of the year. O’Dwyer was tough at inside backer and Max Hammell was solid at d-tackle. Prince Badhan stepped up at the corner and had his best game all season.”

O’Dwyer played sideline to sideline, racking up eight tackles. Chayton Kossowan added another three, and Badhan and Austin Thomas added interceptions as the Maroons’ defence stymied Pleasant Valley’s offence all game long.

The Maroons’ offensive unit was far from hindered by their opponents. Quarterback Ryder Altwasser threw three touchdown passes. One from 60 yards out to Fin Holliday, and two 5-yard scores to Brandon Gotro, and another to Austin Thomas. Fin Holliday, O’Dwyer and Ollie Horne added rushing majors on the ground to round out the unit’s electric day.

“Altwasser did a very good job controlling our offence, he played well. I liked the way interior linemen Hunter Robinson, Noah McIntyre and Joe Zerrath blocked,” said Scheller on the Maroons’ offensive performance post-game.

The Maroons will look to maintain their play in all three phases when they take on Westsyde/Valleyview next Friday.