Prince George's College Heights Cougars battled hard but failed to reach the semifinals in the Double A draw Thursday at the B.C. senior boys volleyball championships at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Volleyball

B.C. Boys Volleyball Championships: Pre-tourney seeds prove iron-clad as Friday brings AA Final Four, AAA Elite 8 rounds at LEC

By Gary AhujaLangley Events CentreLANGLEY — It’s down to the Final Four in the 2A tier while eight teams remain in the hunt for the 3A title as teams wrapped up the first two days of competition here at the 2019 B.C. Secondary School Senior Boys Volleyball Provincial Championships.TRIPLE AAll eight top seeds advanced to […]

Unloading down the field, Vernon Panthers quarterback Zack Smith has been a true dual-threat pivot as a senior. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

Subway Bowl AA 2019 Preview: Langley coach Piche sees shades of ‘Le-Marvelous’ Durant in Vernon’s 2019 MVP quarterback Zack Smith

VANCOUVER — Ryk Piche was surprised at just how fast a decade could pass when, earlier this season, he got an invitation to the 10-year re-union celebration of the Centennial Centaurs team he helped coach to the 2009 Subway Bowl B.C. high school football Triple A championship title.For many including Piche, now the Langley Saints […]

New Westminster's Greyson Planinsic and a galaxy of B.C.'s best high school talent will take to the field Saturday under the dome for the first-ever BCSSFA all-star game. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

ALL-STAR ROSTERS: Your first look at all the selections for Saturday’s inaugural B.C. High School Football All-Star game at B.C. Place

VANCOUVER — All-Star Weekend has finally reached the world of B.C. High School Football.As part of Saturday’s Subway Bowl championship final menu at B.C. Place Stadium, an all-star game will be staged at 2 p.m.The contest will feature talent selected from teams not playing in either the AA or AAA senior varsity finals, meaning there […]

New Lord Tweedsmuir starting quarterback Key'Shaun Dorsey chats with Panthers' offensive coordinator Nick Kawaza during the 2019 Subway Bowl AAA playoffs. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

Subway Bowl 2019 AAA Preview: Lord Tweedsmuir sports reaches a rare realm as Panthers meet VC’s Fighting Irish in B.C. title clash

LANGLEY — Brien Gemmell has already thought about how he’s going to be spending some key moment this coming weekend.“Hopefully, I’ll be watching our (senior varsity football team) win at B.C. Place, and I’ll be live-streaming our (senior) girls (volleyball team) on my phone while they are doing the same at their B.C. championships,” the […]

Langley Saints offensive linemen Dayton Boytillier (left) and Dallas Pattenden congratulate running back Kai Thomas after one of his three rushing majors last Saturday in a Subway Bowl semifinal win over G.W. Graham. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

Subway Bowl AA Finals Preview: Can the Saints’ march be slowed? Vernon defence will have to be at its best to slow Langley run game

LANGLEY — It’s the kind of highlight that in a film-room session just seems to jump off the screen and get your heart pumping.Last Saturday, in its Subway Bowl B.C. Double A semifinal clash against Chilliwack’s G.W. Graham Grizzlies, Langley running back Kai Thomas took a hand-off, made the first wave of tacklers miss, then […]

Feature Podcast

Varsity Letters PODCAST 11.27.19: Hoops Hall of Famer Howard Kelsey, SFU football’s Rysen John stop by to chat with host Howard Tsumura

LANGLEY — Varsity Letters-The Podcast is celebrating basketball and football as the calendar gets set to take us into December. Joining us first is Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Howard Kelsey, who brings us up to date on the Greater Victoria Invitational NCAA women’s basketball tournament, as well as all the big news on […]

Vancouver College's Owen Greaves (left) gives chase to Panorama Ridge's Samir Dhaliwal during Friday semifinal action at the B.C. senior boys AAA soccer championships at Burnaby Lake Sports Complex. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Soccer

Third time’s a golden charm for Panorama Ridge! Two years of finals heartbreak ends with B.C. AAA boys soccer win over Matheson Mustangs

BURNABY — Jeevan Dhaliwal didn’t know the precise history his Panorama Ridge Thunder were attempting to exorcise when the B.C. senior boys Triple-A soccer season kicked off back in September.All he knew was that after losing in back-to-back B.C. championship final matches over his first two years with the Surrey soccer powerhouse, he wasn’t about […]

Terry Fox's Ana-Maria Misic is part of a core group of Grade 10s making the jump to senior varsity this season for the No. 6-ranked Quad-A Ravens. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of UBC athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Ravens crush their learning curve: Fast-rising Terry Fox girls hoops squad starts Quad-A season at No. 6, ready to embrace new challenges

ABBOTSFORD — The 35-0 record along with the B.C. junior girls title they carried off centre court last March at the Langley Events Centre represented a perfect first step into the world high school basketball for Port Coquitlam’s Terry Fox Ravens.Step two — a move up to the senior varsity ranks a year ahead of […]

Vancouver College star running back Daesaun Johnson (2, front) shakes hands with St Thomas More's Vincent Catania after rushing for three scores and helping lift the Fighting Irish into next week's Subway Bowl AAA final against Surrey's Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

Subway Bowl 2019 AAA Final Four: Playing at another level, VC’s Fighting Irish look unstoppable in win over STM Knights

VANCOUVER — Vancouver College’s Daesaun Johnson rushed for three first-half touchdowns, and an Irish defence which has been near impenetrable the past two months simply lived up to form, seemingly impervious to the rising stakes and elevated atmosphere that come with the semifinal round of the Subway Bowl Triple-A playoffs.

Lord Tweedsmuir receiver Terrell Jones looks to split the Notre Dame defence during Saturday's Subway Bowl AAA semifinal at BC Place Stadium. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

Subway Bowl 2019 AAA Final Four: Tweedsmuir’s Panthers snap 14-year B.C. title game drought with win over Notre Dame Jugglers

VANCOUVER — Not too soon after they launched their football program at Lord Tweedsmuir back in 2004, Surrey’s Panthers made a heady ascent to the following season’s Subway Bowl B.C. Double-A championship final.The result may have been a 33-8 loss to the powerhouse Windsor Dukes of North Vancouver all those years ago, but the expansion […]