Winning in the rain. Sun Devils outlast weather and Eagles in big victory
Rain continues to pour down throughout the province. That rain halted the South Delta Sun Devils and Carson Graham Eagles’ vaunted passing games in their matchup Saturday afternoon. Ultimately, the Sun Devils did just enough despite the conditions to squeak by the Eagles 12-6.
In a game played in torrential rain, it’s no surprise that both defense and special teams played a huge part. Both defenses didn’t give up much, and with both teams struggling to sling the rock like they usually do, both squads were forced to lean on their ground games.
Damian Dumas once again delivered the first big play of the game. The star running back, who has to be in strong consideration for AAA player of the year, took a punt on his own 20 on the left side of the field, found the sideline on the right, and then cut back all the way back to the left to score an 80-yard punt return.
South Delta looked to extend their lead on the Eagles after a fumble recovery late in the first half. Inside the red zone, the clock was working against them, with only 30 seconds left in the half.
The Sun Devils seemed to have scored, but a questionable block in the back penalty negated the touchdown. The Sun Devils had to settle for a field goal attempt that was unsuccessful.
It was 6-0 for the Devils at halftime, with the rain continuing to affect both teams, neither side could sustain drives. Midway through the fourth, desperate for a spark, a big Eagles punt return moved them into great field position.
On that same drive, the Eagles were able to move the ball down the field and score on a 4th and goal to tie the game at 6-6. The Eagles decided to go for two points, but the Sun Devils defense came up big, nailing the running back in the backfield, and the try was unsuccessful.
With under two minutes to go, a very quick three-and-out had the Devils punting back to the Eagles, giving them another shot to win the game. Needing a huge stop, the Sun Devils defensive unit stepped up once again.
After forcing a fumble, the ball found the ground. The ball bounced around for what seemed like forever until the Sun Devils finally recovered it. With 60 seconds left and inside Carson’s red zone, the Devils would have one more opportunity to win the game.
With the game on the line, who did South Delta call on? You guessed it, Damian Dumas. The star ran wide off of a pitch and, with phenomenal perimeter blocking by Holden Hunter, Koen Hubbard, and Quinn Sjoberg, found the endzone for the game-winning score. 12-6 Sun Devils.
South Delta Head Coach Ray Moon was pleased with his team’s mental toughness in their gritty victory.
“We showed resilience today fighting the inclement weather, and in the end, we made one more play than Carson did. Carson was fierce today, and they competed incredibly hard; it easily could have gone either way. We are happy to get the win even though it was not a pretty one.”
The Sun Devils will have another tough matchup next Saturday with the Notre Dame Jugglers.
Long live the triple option. Knights pound the rock in 16-6 victory
The St. Thomas More Knights took Friday’s weather in stride. The Knights play old-fashioned ground-and-pound football on their way to a 16-6 win against the Centennial Centaurs.
“It was not pretty. It wasn’t warm and probably not that fun to watch. But, with 0 attempted passes all night, we got a gritty win in a soaking wet, hard-fought battle against Centennial,” said Knights Head Coach Jared Power on his team’s big win.
STM’s triple-option attack is made for nights like this. In the pouring rain and colder weather, you have to be able to run the ball to win games, and the Knights did just that. But as Coach Power said earlier, it was far from pretty.
The Knights fumbled inside their 30-yard line on their first two drives. After surviving their first mistake unscathed, Centennial punished the Knights for their second fumble and took a 6-0 lead.
Nico Pallares answered swiftly for the Knights when he took a toss to the right, then cut back all the way to the left sideline and sprinted 45 yards for the score. He then put the extra point through the uprights to Put STM up 7-6.
The rest of the first half was a stalemate. Both teams had issues handling the ball due to the weather and struggled to put up points because of it.
In the second half, Steven Nicklin went to work continually pounding the ball for tough-earned yards. The Knights handed the ball to their back 25 times for 185 yards in the game and started to wear down the Centaur’s defense.
The Knights weren’t putting up touchdowns, but they were Winning the battle of field position. Eventually, the Knights pressured the Centaurs into choosing to take a safety.
On the ensuing kickoff, Pallares made another big play, this time on the kick return, taking the ball past midfield and putting his team in a position to strike. On the ensuing drive, Knights’ grade 10 Quarterback Pat Cuesta-Leon pulled a triple option and ran 19 yards to put the Knights up 16-6.
Centennial got within striking distance late in the 4th quarter, desperately looking to respond. Driving deep into Knights territory, Knights defensive back Cristiano Loyie-Silva sealed the 16-6 win with a clutch interception.
The Knights’ defense had another strong outing. Wyatt Kully led the Knights with nine tackles, and Liam Golding had 6 of his own.
Power says the Knights were battling more than the conditions.
“This was a character win for us. We challenged our kids this week. Multiple kids had the flu, missed days, and showed up on days they probably shouldn’t have. Then came and played a tough game. I’m very proud of them.”
The Knights will go on the road next Friday when they play the Terry Fox Ravens.
Irish remain unbeaten
The Vancouver College Fighting Irish headed to the Island and, like they have done all year, took care of business in a 56-0 win against the Belmont Bulldogs.
In the first quarter, the Irish’s offense uncharacteristically took some time to get going. The Bulldogs showed their grit on both sides of the ball and only trailed 7-0 at the end of the first frame. Luckily for the Irish, their defense continues to suffocate opposing offenses.
“We started slow offensively, but our defense has continued to do a great job by shutting down our opponent’s offense,” Irish Head Coach Bryan
Chiu commended his defensive unit post-game.
With the team’s defensive unit forcing punts and a turnover on downs, the Irish’s offense jolted awake in the second quarter. VC capped off a long drive by punching the ball in from the one-yard line to go up two scores.
After another Irish defensive stop, running back Tristan Perdito exploded out of the backfield for a 36-yard rushing touchdown. VC’s talented backfield tandem of Perdito and Ryder Quintana continued to rack up yards on the ground and helped the Irish extend their lead to 28-0 at the half.
The Irish kept their foot on the pedal in the third quarter. First, Ryder Quintana took the ball left off tackle, and as he was wrapped up by three Bulldogs, somehow managed to spin his wait out of their grasp and took it 43 yards to the house.
Malikai Frers would add a 13-yard rushing score later in the quarter before Zyann Zapanta would take a pick-six to the house, and the rout was on. Nate Lowden would add a 81-yard punt return touchdown for good measure to make the final score Irish 56 Bulldogs 0.
Chiu was impressed by his team’s performance and focus.
“Happy with our run game, in particular, our physicality. As a team we did well and remained focused traveling to the Island and playing in the wet weather.”
The Fighting Irish will head home and start preparing for their matchup against Carson Graham Next Friday.
Panthers score 18 unanswered to shock Hyacks
Another week, another gut-wrenching loss for the New Westminster Hyacks. Up by double digits yet again this week, the Hyacks just couldn’t put away a tremendously talented Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers squad that scored eighteen unanswered in an 18-17 victory.
The Hyacks were in complete control early. Executing their Wing-T offense to perfection. Running the ball with Kah’ri Johnson off tackle and Tyson Godspower up the middle, the Panthers couldn’t stop the Hyack’s ground attack early.
Throw in a couple of receptions to Benny Hageleit, who made some great plays despite the unfavorable, rainy conditions, and the Hyacks were quickly up 17-0.
After the Panthers answered to make the score 17-6 with an eight-yard touchdown run by Peyton Mansfield, the Hyacks were driving to extend their lead to 24-6.
A fumble on Hyack’s handoff exchange deep in Panther’s territory led to a turnover. The Panthers may have been trailing 17-6 at halftime, but the momentum had swung entirely in their favor. That swing was not lost on Hyacks offensive coordinator Darnell Sikorski.
“We started off the game so well going up 17-6. We had a chance to extend our lead going into halftime with the ball on their 10 yard line and we turned it over on a fumbled exchange. That gave them some life and momentum going into halftime.”
Once the 2nd half hit, everything was going the Panther’s way. Tweedsmuir was able to move the ball with ease in the 3rd and start of the 4th quarter.
Mansfield punched in another short touchdown run, and then a long catch and run by Matthew Reid had the Panthers up 18-17. Hyack’s defensive coordinator, Chad Oatway, saw his defensive unit’s attitude and play change in the second half.
“Defensively, we played very well to start the game but played more tentatively in the 2nd half. We need to be more decisive, fearless, and come with bad intentions on a consistent basis if we want to win these close football games.”
The Hyack’s defense did enough in the 4th quarter to make the Panthers punt twice, but the team’s offense again couldn’t avoid turning the ball over. With five total turnovers on the day, the Hyacks lost the turnover battle for a second week in a row, and you just can’t win games that way.
Hyacks Head Coach Andrew McKechnie says his team is stunned after a second straight heartbreaker.
“Tweedsmuir played a great game for the last 30 minutes so they deserve credit and that is a solid football team. But this was an absolute gut punch. The kids responded with a solid week of practice and we started off the game so well. But you don’t win games in the 1st quarter or 1st half, you win them in the 4th quarter. And right now we are not finishing games. That is a very hurt locker room right now. But coaches and players all need to point the thumb and not the finger so we can get this corrected as a family and as a team. There is still a lot of football ahead of us and if we all commit to making the necessary changes, I have no doubt in my mind we can turn this around. But it will take every single one of us.”
For the Panthers this marks their third straight win. With the team on a roll, they’ll look to continue their success next week in another big game against the Centennial Centaurs.