Welcome to the Saturday night edition of Varsity Letter’s B.C. High School Football report.
Three playoff games make up an abbreviated, but nonetheless important, first Saturday of Subway Bowl playoffs as the majority of matchups move into B.C. Place Stadium next week.
We’re all up-to-date for the weekend, and thus we’ll give you the first look at both of next weekend’s quarterfinal brackets first:
(Note — B.C. Place games now confirmed for this coming Saturday)
SUBWAY BOWL PLAYOFFS
QUARTERFINALS
Nov. 17-18
AAA
TOP HALF DRAW
QUADRANT A
SATURDAY
7:30 p.m. — Notre Dame (West 4) vs. St. Thomas More (East-1) at BC Place
QUADRANT B
SATURDAY
5 p.m. — Terry Fox (East-3) vs. Seaquam (West-2) at BC Place
BOTTOM HALF DRAW
QUADRANT C
SATURDAY
2:30 p.m. — Lord Tweedsmuir (East-2) vs. South Delta (West-3) at BC Place
QUADRANT D
Mt. Douglas (West-5) vs.New Westminster (West-1)
AA
TOP HALF DRAW
QUADRANT A
SATURDAY
12 p.m. — Hugh Boyd (West-3) vs. Abbotsford (East-1) at BC Place
QUADRANT B
John Barsby (West-2) vs. Vernon (Interior-1)
BOTTOM HALF DRAW
QUADRANT C
SATURDAY
9:30 a.m. — Clarence Fulton (Interior-2) vs. Windsor (West-1) at BC Place
QUADRANT D
Argyle (West-4) vs. G.W. Graham (East-2)
TRIPLE A
MT. DOUGLAS 45 at MT. BOUCHERIE 13
KELOWNA — The Mt. Douglas Rams are finishing games with fervour.
Victoria’s Rams, for the second straight week, got better as the game got older, scoring the final four touchdowns of the contest in a decisive win over the host Bears.
Last week, in a 35-28 win over Seaquam, the Rams closed out the Seahawks by scoring four of the game’s final five majors.
Now, the Rams move into the quarterfinals next week to face conference mate and No. 1-ranked New Westminster in a Subway Bowl quarterfinal tilt.
“We were very pleased with our players regaining their focus and finishing the game strong after Boucherie started to come back early in the third quarter,” said Mt. Douglas head coach Mark Townsend after Mt. Boucherie, trailing 19-0 at one juncture, pulled to within 19-13 in the third quarter and were threatening despite a roster that was feeling the injury bug.
The ramblin’ Rams rushed for 250 yards in the win, led by the 121 yards and two touchdowns of Zairech Kremler.
Ben Pierik rushed for 95 yards and two scores, and quarterback Gideone Kremleer completed 18-of-29 passes for 152 yards, throwing strikes of 19 yards to Hayden Nayor and six yards to Dante Carbone to get the third quarter uprising underway.
Naylor finished his day with eight catches for 70 yards.
And as solid as the offence performed, it was the defence actually got the scoring underway.
Defensive tackle Ivan Xu opened the scoring for Rams when he intercepted a pass and rumbled 30 yards to the end zone.
Jake Ounsted was able to consistently make huge plays in the Bears’ backfield and he led Mt. Douglas with eight tackles and two sacks.
Soren Hallschmid recorded seven tackles and also had a fumble recovery and an interception. Pierik had six tackles and three sacks while Zairech Kremler had six tackles plus two sacks.
DOUBLE A
ARGYLE 22 at PRINCE GEORGE 14
VERNON — The Argyle Pipers knew their ground game would have to carry the load, but despite a field covered in snow, they brought the balance of a passing game Saturday and it proved to be the difference.
Devin O’Hea and Rio Aguilera each rushed for majors while quarterback Mac Ward went 11-of-20 for 128 yards and threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Jack Ferguson as the Pipers built a 20-7 halftime lead, added a second-half safety, then hunkered down to top the Northern champion PGSS Polars.
“In the early going it looked like it could be a blow out but we have to give Prince George credit,” said Pipers head coach Wayne Theobald. “They never gave up. They were tough and physical and they battled right to the end.”
That is precisely what Argyle will have to be this coming weekend as they meet Chillwack’s G.W. Graham Grizzlies in the quarterfinal round.”
HUGH BOYD 49 at COLLEGE HEIGHTS 14
VERNON — Richmond’s Hugh Boyd Trojans traveled into a winter wonderland Saturday afternoon, and mushed their way to a 49-14 victory over the College Heights Cougars of Prince George.
Boyd got touchdowns from four different players in the first half, in three different ways, on their way to building a 28-6 halftime lead.
Austin Berry scored on a short run, QB Byron Ruvalcaba hooked up with Zach Jackson and Isaiah Daniels, and Tomo Takeuchi recovered a Coleton Forrester blocked punt.
“An interesting half,” said Boyd Head Coach Bill Haddow.
“A variety of scoring plays, a challenging field, and way too many penalties by both sides. I’d like to see a cleaner game for sure, but we’ll take the win, move on, and work on cutting down our mistakes.”
Boyd took complete charge when they got another score from another player, in another way, as Austin Galbraith returned the second half kick-off to the house as he skated down the sidelines.
They rounded out their scoring on a couple of Austin Berry runs.
“Another bus ride,” said Haddow. “Seems like we’ve spent an awful lot of time on the lung this year. We’ve logged a lot of miles together, and may be on another trek next week to Abbotsford, depending on how the play-off scheduling goes. But we’re happy to get back on a bus as it means we’re still in the tournament.”
The Trojans have drawn the Eastern champion Abbotsford Panthers in the next round.
“Big challenge. A tough group, well-coached, with arguably the best AA back (Samwel Uko) in the province,” offered Haddow. “We’ve got our work cut out for us, but we’ll put the plan together, practice hard, and come ready to play.”
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