Toe-tapping at the back of the end zone, Simon Fraser pure freshman receiver Caelin Johnson scores one of his three touchdowns Saturday in a loss at Linfield (Ore.). (Photo by Naji Sakir property of LInfield Sports Communications 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

Ballard’s boffo Beaver receiver! He’s not Calvin, but Simon Fraser’s pure freshman Caelin Johnson takes mega-impact potential into Saturday’s SFU Stadium christening!

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — Caelin Johnson may be the baby of the bunch within a burgeoning quintet of Simon Fraser receivers trying to catch a rising star these days atop Burnaby Mountain.Yet based on one of the most memorable pure freshman break-out performances in program history this past Saturday, albeit as part of the team’s 56-20 […]

After a redshirt transfer season in 2019 and the COVID-cancelled 2020 campaign, North Delta native Brittany Costa ends a near three-year drought from Canada West play this Friday when she captains the Fraser Valley Cascades at Rotary Stadium against the Victoria Vikes. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Soccer

How long is 1,055 days? As Friday’s UFV soccer opener approaches, Cascades’ Brittany Costa reflects on wisdom gained over her near three-year Canada West drought!

ABBOTSFORD — Inform Brittany Costa just how long it’s been since she last played a meaningful soccer game, and the silence on the other end of the phone line speaks volumes.In her case, the waiting has indeed the hardest part.“It just feels like I have been training for so long that I don’t even know […]

G.W. Graham receiver Tyson Kelly (right) and the rest of the Grizzlies move into the B.C. AAA Big 5 for the first time in school history. At the same time, Nolan Watrin (left) and the Robert Bateman Timberwolves sit in a three-way tie at No. 5 in what is a parity-filled cast of teams at AA. (Photo by Joanne Hewitt property of G.W. Graham athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

B.C. High School Football Weekend Survival Guide 09.13.21 edition: Latest rankings have GWG Grizz with first-ever AAA Big 5 spot, plus the huge parity at AA!

LANGLEY — Welcome back to Varsity Letters’ B.C. High School Football Weekend Survival Guide.We’ve gathered all of last week’s scores, this week’s full schedule as well as Varsity Letters’ first B.C. High School Football Big 5 rankings of the season.Our first full slate of action this past weekend provided illuminating results as teams find their […]

The G.W. Graham defence was kept on red alert by the host St. Thomas More Knights late in Saturday's AAA clash in Burnaby. (Photo by Michelle Hewitt property of GW Graham athletics athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

09.11.21 B.C. High School Football Report: Saturday night FINAL edition features wins by G.W. Graham, South Delta and Rutland!

LANGLEY — Welcome to the Saturday night final edition of the B.C. high school football report.Our season-opening one-day grace period for Friday night games in Week 1 allows us to publish a total of three game reports today.SATURDAYG.W. GRAHAM 14 at ST. THOMAS MORE 12BURNABY — The G.W. Graham Grizzlies varsity team, in its 10th […]

Admitting later to massive case of nerves, SFU's Kristie Elliott came up short on this 39-yard field goal try in the first half of Saturday's game at Oregon's Linfield Wildcats. (Photo by Naji Sakir property of Linfield athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

“I’m getting chills…” says Simon Fraser’s Kristie Elliott, after 21-year-old kicker becomes Canada’s first female to score in a university football game!

There is a homespun appeal to Kristie Elliott’s personality that is so endearing, that even on her biggest days, it comes out of her soul and speaks as if a wide-eyed kid at the candy store.Saturday was one of those days for the Simon Fraser football team’s place-kicker.So, how does it feel, she’s asked, to […]

Simon Fraser's fourth-year sophomore slinger Justin Seiber heated up late as a ray lof light at Linfield on Saturday for the winless SFU football team. (Photo property of Linfield athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

As Simon Fraser suffers bleak loss at Linfield, super-soph QB Justin Seiber comes out of mothballs to show he’s still got the shine

Hey Justin Seiber, welcome back.Simon Fraser football fans hearty enough to follow their heroes into the second half of Saturday’s disappointing 56-20 road loss in Oregon to the Div. 3 Linfield Wildcats were no doubt looking for something to hang their hats on.And so amidst the expected fault lines of youth which have clearly been […]

Despite the team's early-season carousel at quarterback, Carson Graham is 1-1 following a gutsy second-half performance by senior pivot Logan Mellish, a fact that has Eagles' head coach Brian Brady beaming with pride. Carson Graham topped Hansdsworth in the annual Buchan Bowl game Friday morning. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

FINAL EDITION: 09.10.21 Varsity Letters’ B.C. High School Football report: Friday Night Lights late-night edition!

Welcome to Week 1 of Varsity Letters’ B.C. High School Football ReportAs this is the first time we’ve posted with a full schedule of games since late in 2019, remember that in order to read about all of the contests played in our Friday Night Lights editions, you’ve got to keep checking back throughout the […]

As a Grade 8, Notre Dame quarterback Aiden Domino led his team past Lord Tweedsmuir to win the Subway Bowl Quadra Cup B.C. title in a 2017 game staged at B.C. Place. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

The Domino Effect: Notre Dame’s Aiden Domino, who plays a rare double as a dual QB/DE brings a Joe Kapp mentality and physique to Jugglers’ Friday opener vs. Centennial!

VANCOUVER — Notre Dame Jugglers head football coach Denis Kelly always knew his starting quarterback was a big, strapping kid.Turns out, as the Jugglers prepare to open the 2021 season Friday night (7:30 p.m.) at Burnaby Lakes against Coquitlam’s Centennial Centaurs, that Aiden Domino is even bigger than previously advertised.Add to the fact that the […]

They first met in 1993 at Trinity Western when Rob Giesbrecht (right) was a third-year player and Graham Roxburgh a first-year men's assistant coach. Twenty-eight years later, their friendship endures as the pair reunite for the 2021 Canada West season. (Photo by Scott Stewart property of Trinity Western athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Soccer

TWU women’s soccer 2021: Seventeen years after an historic run to 2004 national title, Giesbrecht, Roxburgh re-unite Friday on Chase Field sidelines as Spartans open new season!

LANGLEY — Graham Roxburgh and Rob Giesbrecht first met on the practice pitch at Trinity Western University more than a quarter-century ago.And ever since crossing paths in their early 20’s, they’ve not only worked together, they’ve just spent the past decade scheming against each other.Along their parallel journeys, the pair formed a bond as soccer […]

Olivia Willett (centre, 283) is both a returning senior and foundational leader on the NCAA's No. 11-ranked Div. 2 women's cross-country team, one set to return to the trails Friday in San Francisco. (Photo provided courtesy SFU athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Cross Country

Simon Fraser cross-country 2021 returns Friday to its Happy Trails! Says coach Townsend: “Once you get back on the course, everything’s the same… you compete”

BURNABY — Happy Trails.It’s a song much too dated to register anything resembling a pulse from today’s generation of student-athletes.Yet as cross-country runners at every rank of the NCAA, including those competing at the Div. 2 level at Simon Fraser University, prepare for the mass resumption of their competitive racing schedules this weekend, they might […]