The members of the Merritt Panthers junior boys volleyball team pose with head coach Vince Kanigan after beating the odds and finishing third at the Okanagan championships this past weekend in Revelstoke. Front row (left to right) Gavin Mouland, Will Hubbard. Back row (left to right) Andrew Denton, Carson Mouland, Wade Kanigan, Alex Howard, Nathan Racher, Owen Sigurdsson. (Photo courtesy Merritt Secondary athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Volleyball

A SUNDAY READ: Evacuated from its flood-ravaged city, Merritt Secondary Panthers junior boys volleyball reveals true spirit of B.C. high school sports!

Gian Cavaliere is not only Merritt born-and-raised, he’s also never had reason to leave his south central interior digs.Yet this past week, like just about every member of its citizenry, the Merritt Secondary School vice-principal and proud Panthers athletic director had to vacate his home in the Nicola Valley city, taking up temporary residency in […]

Centennial Centaurs receiver Keyshawn Beswick caught three first-half touchdown passes in a stunning upset of No. 1-ranked Vancouver College. (Photo by Wilson Wong. All Rights Reserved 2021)
Feature High School Football

In an upset for the ages, Centennial Centaurs find a way to top No. 1, undefeated Vancouver College in Subway Bowl AAA quarterfinals!

VANCOUVER — Perhaps it has sunk in by this Sunday morning, but Dino Geremia took all of Saturday night trying to comprehend one of the biggest wins in Centennial Secondary football history.“It took everyone coming together to achieve a win like this,” said Geremia about an hour after Saturday’s epic 27-24 upset of No. 1-ranked, […]

Notre Dame's senior quarter Aiden Domino threw two touchdown passes and ran for another Saturday at Juggler Field in a Coastal AAA Subway Bowl quarterfinal. (Wilson Wong photo property of Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

With a steadfast defence by its side, Notre Dame pivot Domino orchestrates AAA Subway Bowl quarterfinals win over Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers!

VANCOUVER — With defence as its bellwether, the host Notre Dame Jugglers took their best opportunities and turned them into touchdowns on Saturday, finding a way to extend an incredible season which now reaches the Subway Bowl Coastal AAA semifinals this coming Saturday at B.C. Place Stadium.“Playoff football is always a lot different and today […]

With a capacity crowd of 1,600 taking in the sights, SFU's Jordan Lyons scores two of his nine points on the night Saturday against UBC in the Buchanan Cup. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of SFU athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Buchanan Cup 2021: The rivalry returns as a sell-out crowd of 1,600 packs Simon Fraser’s West Gym to watch the hosts top UBC Thunderbirds 90-82!

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — As Steve Hanson made his way across campus Saturday evening for the biggest men’s basketball game at SFU in recent memory, he just knew that nobody was in for an ordinary night.“When I got here at 5:45 (p.m.), I could already hear the 400 people who lined up,” Simon Fraser’s head coach […]

Vernon Panthers' running back Joe Murphy carried 20 times for 129 yards and two TDs in Saturday's playoff win over Duchess Park. (Photo by Darren Hove property of photographer 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

Vernon Panthers roar back from early deficit to topple Duchess Park Condors in Subway Bowl AA North/Interior semifinal clash!

(Note, Triple A game reports will not be published until later on this evening due to prior broadcast commitments)The Vernon Panthers advanced to what would normally have been the team’s fifth straight B.C. high school Subway Bowl B.C. AA semifinal.And although those plans were scuttled earlier this week after a decision to play a regional […]

Simon Fraser's Olivia Willett, pictured here at the NCAA Div. 2 West Region championships, closed out her collegiate career Saturday in the national championship race by making a statement about the size her heart. (Photo courtesy Simon Fraser athletics 2021. All Original Rights Reserved)
Feature University Cross Country

SFU’s pure-guts harrier Olivia Willett collapses on course at NCAA XC nationals 300m shy of finish: “My brain was telling me to keep going but my legs were Jello”

The late, great U.S. middle distance runner Steve Prefontaine would likely have been smiling from above Saturday morning.And not because a talented collegian, in the final race of her NCAA cross-country career, had collapsed on the course at the national Div. 2 women’s championship race just 300 metres from the finish line.“To give anything less […]

Carson Graham's speedy Griffin Withers broke the 10--yard receiving mark Friday as the Eagles' Air Raid offence had one of its best days of the season in a win over Ballenas. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Blair.photo 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

Despite mid-week re-start, Carson Graham’s Air Raid offence is on point, QB Mellish and Co. top Ballenas, head to B.C. Place to face No. 1 Langley!

NORTH VANCOUVER — The Carson Graham Eagles are flying high just when it matters most.When the B.C. School Sports ruling came down mid-week regarding the creation of two separate regional Subway Bowl championships, the Eagles went from preparing for the Langley Thunderbirds to preparing for Parksville’s Ballenas Whalers.Despite having to change everything mid-stream, the Eagles […]

The Sands Scorpions (white) and the Burnsview Griffins, crosstown North Delta rivals shown clashing earlier this season, are two of the 12 teams taking part in the Coastal AA championships set to begin Monday at Burnaby Lakes. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Soccer

Double-A boys high school soccer championship draws are here: Nov. 22, 23 kick-offs for Coastal and North/Interior titles

LANGLEY — B.C.’s best senior boys high school soccer teams will begin a three-day finale starting Monday to determine the best within its provincial Double-A tier, except, like the Subway Bowl football model unveiled earlier this week, teams will be competing for two separate banners.B.C. School Sports released the Double-A draw late Friday afternoon, one […]

Feature University Men's Basketball

Josiah Mastandrea: For the underdog in all of us, Simon Fraser’s gutsy senior brings heart-on-sleeve grit into Saturday’s Buchanan Cup clash with visiting UBC!

BURNABY — Josiah Mastandrea never figured he’d be a part of a night like this Saturday night, a night where the basketball-karma-ooze-o-metre breaks, the mercury spills and the crowd packed into the West Gym on the campus of Simon Fraser University goes wild.Yet as a testament to those players draped in the kind of never-say-die […]

Sir Charles Tupper head coach Jeff Gourley (with grandson Elliott) said a heartfelt good-bye to his players as the impact of COVID on his family business has forced a sabbatical from the coaching front. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Longtime Charles Tupper hoops coach Jeff Gourley takes leave of his Tigers in 2021-22: In a changing world, here’s his heartfelt good-bye!

(Jeff Gourley has given heart and soul to breathe life and community into the East Vancouver basketball world. On Thursday, he announced his reasons for stepping away this season from the boys program at Sir Charles Tupper where the Tigers have been his extended family for most the last quarter century… the team, to be […]