Welcome to a late edition of Varsity Letters’ Friday Night Lights B.C. high school football report.
It’s our one late filing of the season (duty called Friday as I broadcast UBC’s loss to Calgary), so thanks for understanding. Out Saturday report will follow on Sunday and our regular schedule resumes next week.
First a scoreboard, and below our usual game reports.
FRIDAY
AAA WESTERN CONFERENCE
Notre Dame 24 No. 4 Mt. Douglas 7
No. 5 Seaquam 55 Carson Graham 14
No. 3 South Delta 50 Belmont 20
AAA EASTERN CONFERENCE
Lord Tweedsmuir 56 W.J. Mouat 6
No. 1 Terry Fox 55 Kelowna 6
St. Thomas More 57 Centennial 0
DOUBLE A
OKANAGAN VALLEY
Clarence Fulton 39 Valleyview 8
NON-CONFERENCE
Rutland 29 South Kamloops 0
John Barsby 32 Robert Bateman 12
Nanaimo District 15 Pitt Meadows 12
SATURDAY
AAA WESTERN CONFERENCE
1:30 p.m. — New Westminster at Vancouver College
AAA EASTERN CONFERENCE
1:30 p.m. — Mt. Boucherie at Mission
NON-CONFERENCE
1 p.m. — Ballenas at West Vancouver
1:30 p.m. — Argyle at Howe Sound
GAME REPORTS
FRIDAY
AAA EASTERN CONFERENCE
ST. THOMAS MORE 57 at CENTENNIAL 0
COQUITLAM — A defence that collected nine sacks and an offence led running back Tyler Eckert helped the St. Thomas More Knights carry the day once again.
STM (2-0) recorded what may be a provincial first, earning its fourth straight shutout win to open the season, blanking the host Centennial Centaurs (0-2) at Percy Perry.
Eckert carried just 10 times but finished with 284 yards and five touchdowns, the first coming from 75 yards out on the opening play from scrimmage.
He would go on to rush for TDs of 80, 2, 22 and 18 yards.
On defence, linebacker Eckert and nose tackle Sam Steele were once again at their best.
Steele had nine tackles and Eckert another five, with both collecting a pair of sacks in the victory.
Colin Dalla Vecchia also had a strong performance with seven tackles and three sacks. Sajun Shokar had six tackles with two sacks. Jonah Fridfinnson and David Osho had five tackles each while Vasco Repole and Ethan Austin both had interceptions.
Joel Pielak and Julian Valerio also rushed for scores, while quarterback Dario Ciccone threw a 14-yard touchdown to Taylor Dal Monte, who also rushed for a two-point convert off a bad snap.
W.J. MOUAT 6 at LORD TWEEDSMUIR 56
SURREY — Jesse Goedman and Derek Best each scored a pair of touchdowns, and four other Panthers found the end zone as Lord Tweedsmuir (2-0) beat Abbotsford’s visiting W.J. Mouat Hawks (0-2) by a 56-6 count.
“It was our first home game and our kids did what they needed to do to get the win,” said Lord Tweedsmuir co-coach Kurt Thornton. “It wasn’t our cleanest performance but our athletes performed well. We have some things we need to continue to improve on if we are going to compete with the top teams in the conference.”
Best carried 11 times for 116 yards and two scores, while Goedman rushed for a 10-yard score and scooped up a fumbled kick-off return attempt which he carried 25 yards to the end zone.
Quarterback Walter Dingwall hit Jaden Simon with a 47-yard scoring strike on the Panthers’ first play from scrimmage and later called his own number on an 87-yard TD run.
Yosef Drysdale also scored on an 11-yard catch from Trey Jones, while Braeden Hutchinson did likewise on a 12-yard run.
Kojo Odoom, Graeme Godard and Griffin O’Connor each had five tackles on defence as the Panthers built a 34-6 halftime lead.
Nathan Hausermann scored on an 11-yard run in the third quarter to account for Mouat’s only points.
“We started our regular season with, in my opinion, the two toughest (Eastern Conference) teams,” said head coach Travis Bell, whose Hawks have lost to No. 1 Terry Fox and now a Tweedsmuir team which opened the season at No. 5. “We took our lumps, no doubt about it. That being said, from last week to this week, there was marked improvement, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. I am extremely proud of how our boys have handled the challenging last two weeks. I think they are hungry to get after it on Monday in what begins a crucial stretch of our season if we hope to challenge for a playoff berth.”
KELOWNA 6 at No. 1 TERRY FOX 55
PORT COQUITLAM — Eric Polan and Matthew Hewabbage helped set the defensive tone early and No. 1 Terry Fox (2-0) continued its explosive play with a convincing win over a short-staffed crew of Kelowna Owls (0-2).
Hewabagge had six tackles including a sack, while Jevaun Jacobsen had seven tackles and an interception.
On offence, six different Ravens found the end zone, led by Jacobsen who scored three times and Liam Cumarasamy who scored twice.
Cade Cote, Ethan Shuen and Stuart Phillips also found the end zone for Terry Fox.
“It was a tough game for us,” said Kelowna head coach Chris Cartwright. “We had some guys not travel with us because they were sick and we were asking a lot of players to play in different spots today.”
Nolan Ulm scored Kelowna’s only touchdown on a 20-yard pass from quarterback Marcus Athans.
TRIPLE A
WESTERN CONFERENCE
NOTRE DAME 24 at No. 4 MT. DOUGLAS 7
VICTORIA —On a team beset with injuries, Will Clarke made a case to be nicknamed The Thrill.
Clarke, the talented 11th grader, helped set the tone for the Jugglers (1-1) by throwing one touchdown pass and then scoring another on a pick six as the Jugglers topped No. 4 Mt. Douglas (0-2) in the provincial capital.
“This was one of the most courageous team efforts I have been around,” said Notre Dame head coach Denis Kelly. “We were really fighting several injuries and sickness, but the team showed tremendous resilience. Hats off to the players who filled in so admirably.”
It was a laundary list to be sure, and it included running back Flixl Reyes, who was filling in for the injured trio of Teon Alexander-Amour, Brice Pumares and Kareem Oborne.
Reyes capped Notre Dame’s opening drive with a five-yard run off left tackle. Alex Pinson’s extra point made it 7-0.
Mt. Douglas scored its only major of the day on a seven-yard run by Zairech Kremler and the game was knotted 7-7 at the break.
The Jugglers, however, finished the game scoring 17 unanswered points.
Clarke threw a TD strike to Jerrell Cummings, Pinson kicked a 17-yard field goal, and then Clarke picked off Rams’ quarterback Gideone Kremler, who came on in the second half to see his first action of the season.
Kremler, one of B.C.’s elite players, had undergone off-season surgery and head coach Mark Townsend wasn’t expecting him to be ready in the month of September.
“Notre Dame played a strong game, made more critical plays than we did and earned full credit for the win,” said Townsend. “”Our defense kept us in this game, but our offense was not able to sustain drives. Our team needs to regroup, find the positives from this tough loss and continue to work hard and get better.”
Ben Pierik led the Rams with 60 rushing yards, as well as six tackles and a sack on defence. Jake Ounsted and Aiden Bertuzzi each finished with five tackles in the loss.
No. 3 SOUTH DELTA 50 at BELMONT 20
VICTORIA — Just in case you thought that all they did was chuck it around the park, the South Delta Sun Devils (2-0) made a statement Friday as to the balance of their offence.
Quarterback Michael Calvert and running back Andrew Kraft each broke the century mark on the ground in a decisive win over the host Bulldogs (1-1).
And Calvert’s incredible season just continued, as he not only passed and rushed for scores, but also caught a TD pass from Ben McDonald.
Calvert went 20-of-30 for 293 yards and a touchdown. He also carried 11 times for 156 yards and two scores (18, 80 yards) and caught an eight-yard scoring pass.
Kraft rushed 12 times for 104 yards and three scores (12, 2, 5 yards) in addition to six catches for 67 yards.
“We had a pretty good game and were able to adjust and take advantage of their tendencies,” said Sun Devils head coach Ray Moon whose team passed for 306 yards and rushed for 286 yards.
Calvert’s lone TD pass was an 11-yard completion to Rylan Tjahyana.
Caled van Til’s seven tackles led the defence.
No. 5 SEAQUAM 55 at CARSON GRAHAM 14
NORTH VANCOUVER — With an offence as prodigious as they come, North Delta’s Seaquam Seahawks (2-0) continued their early-season roll.
Jalen Philpot carried nine times for 129 yards and two scores, while teammate Jello Juatco rushed eight times for 79 yards and three touchdowns as part of a convincing win over North Vancouver’s Carson Graham Eagles (0-2).
Tyson Philpot caught one touchdown pass from quarterback Josh Haydu and scored another off a kickoff-return, finishing with 191 all-purpose yards. He also added 11 tackles.
Ayden Liebich rushed for one score ands also led the defence in tackles with 13.
“The offence was very balanced today and the offensive line controlled things, opening up huge holes for Jalen Philpot, Jello Juatco and Ayden Liebich,” said head coach Navin Chand after the win.
“On the defensive side, Liebich had his biggest game of the season and then Ryan Sim came through with a huge interception for us, right when Carson was marching down the field.”
DOUBLE A
OKANAGAN VALLEY
CLARENCE FULTON 39 at VALLEYVIEW 8
KAMLOOPS — Evan Trottier kicked a pair of field goals and threw a fourth-quarter touchdown pass, leading Vernon’s visiting Clarence Fulton Maroons to a convincing win over the host Valleyview Vikes.
Trottier booted field goals of 20 and 38 yards, the latter coming on the final play of the half and sending the Maroons to locker room with a 25-0 lead at the break.
Trottier later threw a 35-yard scoring strike to Caden Doyle.
Cole Hunter (41 yards), Koalden Gudeit-Oakden (3 yards), Alan Bargaso (6 yards) and Teigen Derkach (10 yards) all rushed for scores in the win.
Nate Banga and JJ Heaton with five tackles each and Ike Olson and Ryan Rumsey with four apiece helped lead the Fulton defence.
NON CONFERENCE
NANAIMO DISTRICT 15 at PITT MEADOWS 12
PITT MEADOWS — The visiting Islanders showed resilience aplenty, getting a fourth-quarter field goal from Finn Bradbrooke to beat the host Marauders.
Nanaimo District had it’s first pass of the game picked off, and it did not score in the opening half.
They rallied, however, scoring a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter, the latter coming off a recovery from its special teams.
“We came in wanting this and Pitt gave us all we asked for,” said NDSS head coach Nate Stevenson.
Trailing 6-0, the Islanders got touchdowns on a 25-yard run by Anthony Comas and a 30-yard pass from Clayton Hennesy to Bradbrooke.
“Defensively, we played some pretty good football,” said Stevenson who got five tackles apiece from Dakota Moonshadow, Bradbrooke and Jordan Racette-Wilson. “We need to work more on our tackling and assignments under pressure but I was pleased with this phase.”
Added Pitt Meadows head coach Bubba Montabello: “Neither team really got any flow together offensively which was due to the high level of defence that was being played by both teams. It came down to a fourth quarter field by Nanaimo to win the game.”
RUTLAND 29 vs. SOUTH KAMLOOPS 0
No game report submitted
JOHN BARSBY 32 ROBERT BATEMAN 12
Full game information not available
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