The Sports Corner

BC High School Football Playoffs - Round One

First round of the BC HS Football playoffs at McLeod Athletic Park - Nov. 14

Terry Fox 48 - Carson Graham 14

Terry Fox came into this game as clear-cut favourites. Fox beat Carson Graham 41-7 in September. Early on the Ravens looked like they were going to run away with it. Cam Canales picked off a Hayden Nicol pass and returned it for a touchdown. On the next Terry Fox possession, Keiko King ran 68 yards for a touchdown out of the wildcat.

But Terry Fox penalties kept the game within reach in the first quarter and Nicol took advantage with two touchdown passes. Jacob Patko responded for Fox with a 50-yard touchdown pass and the Ravens led 20-14 at half.

The third quarter was all Terry Fox until Nicol returned a kick off to the Fox 40-yard line, down 35-14 at that point. But Nicol threw an interception to King on third and long. The Eagles also had the unfortunate experience of the first heavy rainfall of the weekend, and it only got worse from there. 

W.J. Mouat 28 – Notre Dame 3  

In a game billed as Stephen Spagnuolo vs. a tough Mouat defence led by Tyler Declare and Allan Dicks, the latter came out on top. Spagnuolo made his yards, he had over 150 in the first half alone, but the Hawks kept him out of the end zone. Even after a spectacular 56-yard kick-off return by Spagnuolo, the Jugglers failed to put any points on the board. For the first time this year, Spagnuolo didn’t get on the score sheet.

The combination of running backs Dicks and Drew Chung wore down the Notre Dame defence and all-conference quarterback Cam Bedore proved his worth when the Hawks needed a big play through the air.

Now Mouat must travel to Kelowna to face the Kelowna Owls. Dennis Kelly wasn’t told until today that his team has to travel to Kelowna instead of facing them at McLeod Stadium. If the travel doesn’t effect the Hawks and they stay healthy, they could make a run at the championship.

Lord Tweedsmuir 35 – Mt. Boucherie 31

Tweedsmuir came out of the gates fired up, especially on defence. They were in the backfield on nearly every Mt. Boucherie running play. Down by seven, the Bears finally hit a big play on a screen pass and managed to tie the game.

Late in the second Boucherie started to string together some passing plays and quarterback Marcus Blettinger found Jesse Kendall in the back corner of the end zone to take the lead 14-7. The Bears threw an interception on the last play of the half, leaving the score at 17-7, that play kept Tweedsmuir’s hopes alive.

Coming back after half time they recovered an onside kick and drove down the field for the score, pulling within three. The teams then exchanged touchdowns, moving the ball much faster than they had in the first half. Tweedsmuir, down 31-28, engineered a drive to put themselves back on top and their defence stepped up in the closing minutes to pick off a last-ditch attempt by Blettinger.

Tweedsmuir will now play the heavily favoured Centennial Centaurs in the quarter-finals.

South Kamloops 10 – St. Thomas More 7

Neither team had much in terms of offence all game. With three minutes left STM’s Mike Carney hit a pass over the middle to put the Knights in the red zone. Running back Jordan Bosa kept grinding out yards and got the Knights down to the one-yard line. But with no time outs remaining, the Knights were unable to stop the clock, STM took too much time trying to punch it in.

The Knights tried to leave South Kamloops with no time to respond.

When Bosa was kept out of the end zone with ten seconds left, the Knights couldn’t get another play off before time expired. South Kamloops barely escaped. Their coaches will not be happy with their performance this week and should play a much better game offensively against Vancouver College.