Welcome to the Saturday morning edition of Varsity Letters.
Coaches were plagued with tough conditions to file reports Friday, all coming off 7 p.m. starts in Washington state with return trips pending.
No mulligans next week, so we hope to be able to bring you the best picture possible this coming Friday night.
Thanks for reading and we hope to have Saturday’s day game for your availability tonight.
TRIPLE A
NON-CONFERNECE
NO. 2 TERRY FOX 52 at CONCRETE (Wash.) 7
CONCRETE (Wash.) — A smothering defence led by the 12 tackles and four sacks of Eric Polan, and an offence that started in a hurry, carried the AAA No. 2-ranked Ravens to a comfortable win in its season opener against the Northwest League’s 2B Concrete Lions.
PoCo’s Ravens led 21-0 at the end of the first quarter and never looked back.
Cade Cote rushed for 165 yards and two touchdowns, while new quarterback Matt Lew-Henrickson threw a pair of scoring strikes, including one to Jaden Severy, while also rushing for 48 yards.
Back-up pivot Keyshawn Dorsey connected with Zack Kristmanson for another major score.
“Tonight we were able to see our team take a step forward and forget the shortcomings of last year,” said Ravens coach Tom Kudaba. “We had great team focus and this is a very close team with tremendous focus and one common goal…to get better every game and leave no play to chance.”
The Ravens play their B.C. opener this Friday on the road against the Abbotsford Panthers.
Terry Fox holds its home opener Sept. 15 against AA No. 1 Vernon, then opens AAA Eastern Conference play Sept. 21 at Kelowna.
Concrete also waits before jumping into its conference slate against the likes of Friday Harbour, Darrington and La Conner, hosting Menlo’s Willapa Valley on Sept. 9.
SEAQUAM 19 at OAK HARBOR (Wash.) 48
OAK HARBOUR (Wash.) — North Delta’s Seahawks got all they could handle and more from the 3A Wesco Conference’s host Wildcats.
Quarterback Jay Mather went 14-of-23 for 170 yards, connecting with seven different receivers in the loss.
Mather connected with Chris Mather for a score and rushed for a major as well. Antonio Pamintuan rushed for the team’s other major.
Ayden Liebich led Seaquam with 12 tackle, and Corbin Grant had nine tackles.
Seaquam, like the rest of the AAA West, jumps right into conference play this coming week.
The Seahawks get a tough one right off the top, playing host to a Vancouver College team Sept. 8. The Irish were easy 41-14 winners Friday at 2A R.A. Long of the Greater St. Helen’s League.
Oak Harbour is also in league action this coming Friday, playing its opener at Memorial Stadium against rival Marysville-Pilchuk.
SULLIVAN HEIGHTS 0 at STEVENSON (Wash.) 55
STEVENSON (Wash.) — Surrey’s Stars played the first game in program history in deep southwest Washington and it wasn’t short of indelible Day 1 memories.
Before head coach Gord Randall’s group knew what had hit them, they lost their starting quarterback for the night, gave up a touchdown on the host Bulldogs’ first offensive snap, then lost an onside kick that on the next play which turned into Stevenson’s second touchdown of the game.
All of that happened within the contest’s first seven plays against the 1A Trico Conference team located just north of Portland.
“Our kids battled but were just physically a little outmatched,” admitted Randall, whose 33-man varsity roster had just 12 players with any kind of previous football experience. “Our offense is closer than the final score looks to being pretty good, and I think with a few more weeks we’ll start to really hit our stride.
“It was a rough go but I’m really proud of the way our players handled the circumstances,” he continued. “Heads were high and kids battled throughout the game. Ultimately, our overall inexperience with just being around a football game at this level showed.”
The Stars play at fellow first-year startup Sardis this Friday in the Pacific Division opener for both teams. The home opener comes a week later against defending B.C. Tier 2 champion Eric Hamber.
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