Welcome to another week of Varsity Letter’s B.C. High School Football Report.
You know the drill! Keep checking back with us throughout the evening for updates from around the province. Here’s the complete scoreboard, followed by our game reports!
SCOREBOARD
FRIDAY
AAA WESTERN CONFERENCE
No. 2 New Westminster 29 No. 4 Mt. Douglas 6
Belmont 25 No. 5 Vancouver College 9
Seaquam 35 Notre Dame 15
AAA EASTERN CONFERENCE
Mission 39 Centennial 6
St. Thomas More 28 Kelowna 0
Lord Tweedsmuir 48 Mt. Boucherie 0
No. 1 Terry Fox 79 W.J. Mouat 0
INTER-TIER/NON-CONFERENCE
No. 3 Windsor 44 No. 1 Abbotsford 27
Robert Bateman 7 West Vancouver 6
Clarence Fulton 28 Rutland 21
No. 4 John Barsby 42 Spectrum 6
No. 2 Vernon 31 Hugh Boyd 13
Ballenas 34 Nanaimo District 9
GAME REPORTS
AAA EASTERN CONFERENCE
No. 1 TERRY FOX 79 at W.J. MOUAT 0
ABBOTSFORD — Jaden Severy ran for 273 yards and five touchdowns in the first half as No. 1 Terry Fox (2-1, 1-0) opened Eastern Conference play in convincing fashion over host W.J. Mouat.
The Ravens led 58-0 at halftime.
Jevaun Jacobsen rushed for 82 yards and two touchdowns. Albert Arcena caught a touchdown pass and converted all 10 of the Ravens’ touchdowns.
In the second half, Liam Cumarasamy rushed for 85 yards and two touchdowns.
LORD TWEEDSMUIR 48 at MT. BOUCHERIE 0
KELOWNA — Derek Best rushed for 172 yards on just 13 carries, scoring touchdowns of three, eight and 65 yards as the visiting Panthers blanked the host Bears in the Eastern Conference opener for both teams.
Graeme Godard blocked a punt that was picked up for a touchdown by Treven Baarts as part of a defensive effort which yielded the shutout. Jacob Stebbings led the defence with nine tackles, a pair of interceptions and fumble recovery while Griffin O’Connor recorded six tackles.
“Our defence was awesome today,” said LT coach Kurt Thornton. “We were able to hold Mt. Boucherie to limited gains and with our back-ups in the game, managed to preserve the shutout.”
The offence, meanwhile, scored six times and put up 459 yards.
Quarterback Walter Dingwall connected with Thomas Box for an 11-yard game-opening score. Brady Hutchinson carried six times for 125 yards, including a 45-yard TD scamper.
As well, Terrell Jones thew a 79-yard scoring strike to Yosef Drysdale.
KELOWNA 0 at ST. THOMAS MORE 28
BURNABY — The St. Thomas More Knights have started the 2017 season in a most impressive defensive fashion.
For the third straight week, the Knights defence has pitched a shutout, this time in a 28-0 Eastern Conference opener against the visiting Kelowna Owls.
STM shut out Holy Cross 34-0 in its opener, then last week blanked Double A No 1 Abbotsford 38-0 on the road.
“Our defense had an outstanding game and came away with two safeties in the first half,” said head coach Steve De Lazzari.
One came on a sack by Sajun Shokar, and the other on a sack by Sam Steele, the later collecting 10 tackles including four sacks.
Knights’ star running back Tyler Eckert carried 17 times for 120 yards and one score, and also had four sacks. Jonah Fridfinnson had eight tackles on the night from his strong safety position.
Quarterback Dario Ciccone threw for 165 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown strike to Fridfinnson. Michael Simone had a 50-yard punt return for a TD in the second half.
“We had two offensive fumbles in the red zone during the first half which took away from some of our momentum,” said De Lazzari. “Kelowna was a well-coached, tough and physical football team.”
AAA WESTERN CONFERENCE
SEAQUAM 35 at NOTRE DAME 15
BURNABY — The Seaquam Seahawks have sent notice to Triple A’s traditional powers and the message is clear.
The defending Subway Bowl Double A champs have kept their stride in tact despite a decided move up in competition this season.
On Friday at Burnaby Lakes, Josh Haydu threw three touchdown passes to Tyson Philpot, and Philpot rushed for another two scores along the ground as the North Deltans topped the host Notre Dame Jugglers 35-15.
“We were beaten soundly by a group of superior athletes tonight,” said Notre Dame head coach Denis Kelly. “The Philpot brothers (Tyson and Jalen) were difficult to contain and were responsible for many big plays along with QB Haydu. For our part we failed to capitalize several times in the red zone. Had we been able to cash in our opportunities we had a chance to overcome the Seaquam big plays. As it was, we struggled to score and gave Seaquam’s big guns more time to score.”
After falling behind 7-0, Notre Dame came back to lead 8-7 after Jerrell Cummings capped a long drive with a five-yard scoring run.
Quarterback Will Clarke then hit Brice Pumares with a two-point convert pass.
The Seahawks, however, built a 20-8 halftime lead after Tyson Philpot scored off both a kick-off return major and a deep bomb from Haydu.
Clarke’s 40-yard pass to Dylan Rachel capped Notre Dame’s scoring, but Philpot scored two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
CENTENNIAL 6 at MISSION 39
MISSION — After three straight weeks of taking the most purposeful lumps in program history, the Mission Roadrunners came home to open the conference season and showed that adversity is their friend with a win over Coquitlam’s visiting Centaurs.
“It was a win we needed and the team responded with a great, competitive week of practice,” said head coach Danny Jakobs, whose charges dropped games to Pasadena (Cal.)-Polytech, New Westminster and South Delta heading into Friday. “We had played what had to be the toughest preseason schedule in the history of Mission football.”
Quarterback Hamen Gill went 9-of-15 and threw a pair of crucial third-down conversions to Jayden Watrin who finished with 5 catches for 95 yards and a score.
Grade 12 Cole Dorwart finished with 11 rushes for 154 yards and two touchdowns.
“We managed to control their quarterback (Max Kennedy) and he is as quick and athletic a QB we will face all year.”
Kennedy rushed for a 65-yard touchdown for Centennial.
Eli Young had six tackles and two sacks to lead the Mission defence.
“I especially enjoyed coaching against my son Niko who played at Mission and UBC and now coaches and teaches at Centennial,” said the proud papa Jakobs. “It’s nice to see he shares the same passion for coaching as I do.”
No. 5 VANCOUVER COLLEGE 9 at BELMONT 25
VICTORIA — Eli Helms-Norton had the game of his life, and Victoria’s Belmont Bulldogs may well have won the biggest regular-season game in the history of its program on Friday.
Helms-Norton returned the opening kickoff 90 yards for a score and later added two more high-impact TD strikes in the Bulldogs 25-9 win over the No. 5-ranked Vancouver College Fighting Irish.
“It’s a huge day for our program,” said Belmont head coach Alexis Sanschagrin. “Vancouver College is a perennial powerhouse and showing that we can be successful against the elite teams of this province is something we’ve been close to many times but hadn’t manage to finish.
“I am especially proud of this group because they’ve competed against some extremely strong competition week in and week out for three-to-four years now and the reality is that it’s hard to tell a team full of teenagers that they are very good when the wins don’t necessarily come regularly. For that reason, opening the game with a kickoff return for a touchdown was huge for us mentally. Eli Nelms-Horton is a special player and his big-play ability was a key factor today.”
Helms-Norton later caught touchdown passes of 52 and 85 yards from quarterback Kalen Jules, and his three catches on the game went for 142 yards.
Jalen Chung also caught a touchdown pass for the winners.
“There is no doubt we have skill outside but we owe that win to the gutsy performance of our line,” added Sanschagrin. “Due to injuries, we started the game with only six varsity linemen available and we even leaned on Grade 10 Spencer Logan to help us out. As the game progressed, our boys got tired, banged up but they had a fight in them that kept them going until the end. I can guarantee you their tank is empty right now.”
Safety Carter Price and linebacker Jason Ouellet had seven tackles apiece while corner Kenan Blanchard collected an interception.
No. 2 NEW WESTMINSTER 29 at No. 4 MT. DOUGLAS 6
(adds Mt. Douglas stats, quotes)
VICTORIA — The Hyacks (3-1, 1-0) opened the Western Conference season Friday in the provincial capital with a roster talented enough to absorb a myriad of its own errors.
Behind game-opening and -closing touchdown passes from quarterback Kinsale Philip, No. 2 New Westminster had more than enough to get by a short-manned crew of host and No. 4-ranked Rams.
Yet on a night when dynamic touchdown maker Sebastien Reid had four touchdowns called back due to penalties, head coach Farhan Lalji couldn’t help but express his concern that similarly squandered opportunities later in the season could prove to be the team’s undoing.
“Our discipline also needs to be better,” said Lalji. “The officials did a good job and we simply can’t give that many points back as we get deeper into the season.”
Two of Reid’s penalty-vioded scores came in the return game.
Reid, was, however, able to score one touchdown, hauling in a 25-yard pass from Philip to round out the scoring,
Philip also threw a 35-yard TD strike to Finn Stark which opened thew scoring in the first quarter as the Hyacks built a 15-0 halftime lead.
Lucas Sabau’s two-yard QB sneak, capped with a Sammy Sidhu two-point covert, made it 15-0.
The Rams only major came on a two-yard run by Ben Pierik in the third quarter.
Broxx Comia scored on a 12-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, adding the two-point covert himself for a 23-6 lead. Zachery Northgraves kicked a 25-yard field goal.
“We had a number of opportunities to score early but you have to give Mt Douglas credit for how hard they battled,” said Lalji of a Rams team playing without injured starting quarterback Gideone Kremler. “They were shorthanded and wouldn’t go away.”
Donte Carbone threw for 136 yards in the loss for Mt. Douglas which got five tackles and two sacks from Iva Xu. Sebastian Hansen led the hosts with six tackles. Sam Mosky was Mt. Douglas’ leading rusher with 72 yards on six carries.
Mt. Douglas stays at home next Friday as conference play continues with a visit from the Notre Dame Jugglers. The Hyacks stay on the road, paying a Saturday visit to O’Hagan Field to clash with Vancouver College on Sept. 30.
“New West played a solid game on both sides of the ball and earned this victory,” said Mt. Douglas head coach Mark Townsend. “Far too many penalties and not taking care of the football were our downfall. We will work on our discipline and ball security this week, and work our butts off as we face another conference rival next week.”
INTER-TIER/NON-CONFERENCE
BALLENAS 34 at NANAIMO DISTRICT 9
NANAIMO — Talk about making every carry count.
Whalers’ tailback Logan Pepper carried just nine times but rushed for 168 yards and four touchdowns as Ballenas toppled the Islanders.
“NDSS has a ton of talent and is well coached,” said Ballenas assistant coach Jeremy Conn. “They gave us some problems with unique formations but our guys made our adjustments and played well.”
Quarterback Ben Robinson continued to carve up the ground, rushing six times for 127 yards and one score.
The Whalers had great success shutting down the NDSS triple option game. Ethan Marquis had seven tackles, Josh Rice six and Noah Seselja five while Clayton Hurst finished with two interceptions.
No. 3 WINDSOR 44 at No. 1 ABBOTSFORD 27
ABBOTSFORD — Ryan Baker set the table for the biggest Windsor Dukes win since the 2009 Subway Bowl semifinals.
It’s been a while since one of the most dominant AA program of the last 20 years has been a title contender but the Dukes (2-0) served substantial notice of just that on Friday.
Quarterback Baker went 11-of-17 for 141 yards and one TD, and also rushed 19 times for 112 yards and four majors as the No. 3 Dukes upended the host and No. 1-ranked Panthers (0-3).
Julien Perri rushed three times for 77 yards and one touchdown while Sean Werbowski made six catches for 81 yards.
Mitch Townsend, Werbowski, Perri, Ben McMichael and Brad Royce all managed interceptions.
Dukes head coach Jim Schuman was thrilled with two-way linemen Jack Myers, Darius Lyon, Owen Murphy and Jad Al Ryahi, as well as halfback Daniel Cruz, all of whom were playing for the first time.
HUGH BOYD 13 at No. 2 VERNON 31
VERNON — Zack Smith took things into his own hands Friday as the Vernon Panthers shook free from their offensive doldrums to beat Richmond’s visiting Hugh Boyd Trojans.
Despite having senior all-star Bradley Hladik sidelined with a sore knee, the Panthers found their answer in Smith, transforming their junior varsity quarterback into a blue-chip, game-breaking wide receiver.
Smith finished the game with six catches for 98 yards, including TD receptions of 11 and 27 yards from pivot Thomas Hyett.
But the biggest catch he made, a 52-yard circus grab along the sidelines which also led to a score, was the play which seemed to energize Vernon the rest of the game.
“That catch seemed to spark our dormant offence,” admitted Vernon head coach Sean Smith of an offence which had sputtered and thrown a pair of interceptions.
“We’ve gotta play 48 minutes,” said Boyd coach Bill Haddow, whose team took a 13-10 lead into the fourth quarter. “They made some plays when they needed to, and we didn’t. Our kids fought their guts out, and might have stolen one if they would have played the last quarter the way they played the first three.”
The Trojans got both of their touchdowns from H-back Austin Berry, the first on a five-yard shovel pass from Reace Mok, converted by Abe Ravvin, and the second on a six-yard run, with the convert being missed.
Vernon’s workhorse back Charles Lemay tallied 89 yards on 17 carries to go along with a five-yard touchdown. Landon Colvin also rushed for a five-yard touchdown.
Hyett (14-17 for 174 yards) struggled early but found a rhythm with Smith when the game was on the line.
Defensively, Landon Colvin led the winners with eight tackles while Trey Defoor and Brady Szeman added six apiece.
“It was fun to watch the connection that Zack and Thomas had in the fourth,” said Smith. “We needed some energy and some playmaking and Zack brought us that right when we needed it. It was great to see our grade 10’s (linebacker Brady Szeman six tackles and a fumble recovery, Caden Danbrook one interception, two catches for 22 yards) compete and make some key plays in their first significant action with the seniors. They definitely proved they belonged in the senior ranks today and gave us some dynamic playmaking ability.”
Defensively, Boyd was again solid, forcing a couple of turnovers.
Defensive tackle Kamron Porbeni recovered a fumble, and Austin Berry had an interception from his linebacker spot.
Coleton Forrester was a force from his inside linebacker position, making numerous tackles.
“The score really isn’t indicative of the play, at least in my mind,” said defensive co-ordinator Bruce Haddow. “I feel we played much better than last week, against a very tough opponent. And we went in with the mindset of getting everyone into the game, which we did.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — As the Trojans head into a bye week, they are headed to Eugene, Ore., and on Sept. 30th will watch the Oregon Ducks host the Cal Golden Bears. Wish I was there!
“We’re all looking forward to a week away,” said Bill Haddow. “It should be a lot of fun, and a great team bonding time.”
ROBERT BATEMAN 7 at WEST VANCOUVER 6
WEST VANCOUVER — After surrendering a combined 75 points over their first two games of the season, both losses, Abbotsford’s Robert Bateman Timberwolves needed to showcase the kind of shutdown mentality they figured they had coming out of fall camp.
On Friday, with outside linebacker Sam Henneberry embracing those ideals, the Wolves (1-2) scored a late major to beat the host West Vancouver Highlanders (2-1) in a low-scoring affair.
“We knew that West Van had big-play ability in the passing game,” said Bateman head coach David Mills who watched Henneberry make a number of pass breakups, record a sack and a number of QB pressures, before batting down a ball on fourth down late in the final quarter to preserve the win.
“We knew that if we could limit their big plays, we’d have a chance to win,” continued Mills. “We had some shaky moments in the secondary in the first half, but in the second half our defense played much better. Our run defense was much improved over the first two weeks.”
West Vancouver pivot Ben Corbett, who went 19-for-35 and 198 yards, threw a first-half touchdown pass to put the hosts up 6-0 at the break but Bateman came through on special teams to block what would be a pivotal extra-point attempt.
Then, in the fourth, Wolves’ running back Brock McCartney broke off a 35-yard TD run on fourth-and-one. Sam Davenport made the convert for a one-point lead with about five minutes remaining.
“It was a tough day at home today,” said West Vancouver co-head coach Pooyah Dourandish. “Robert Bateman came in and executed a strong defensive game plan. We had a tough time moving the ball on the ground. We seemed to be inches away from our air-raid game all day.”
West Vancouver was looking to go 3-0 to start its season for the first time since 2007.
Ben Welsh caught nine passes for 60 yards in the loss. The West Van defence was led by its linebackers. Ryerson Wallace and Ben Croasdale each had seven tackles with Wallace also registering a sack.
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