In their glory, Abbotsford Panthers ' team captains (left to right) Ken McIntee, Paul Gill, Lance McDonald and Lance Iten hoist the spoils of victory on a chilly night at old Empire Stadium back in 1984. (Photo provided through the permission of Paul Gill)
Feature High School Football

Abby’s original football heroes: Some 35 years later, Panthers celebrate their biggest victory with a B.C. title rematch against Notre Dame

ABBOTSFORD — Paul Gill has never forgotten the feeling he got from winning his final high school football game.Now, 35 years later, the Abbotsford Panthers’ 14-4 victory over the Notre Dame Jugglers in the 1984 B.C. championship game is being recognized for the pioneering bar it set in the city you might just call the […]

Feature High School Football Podcast University Cross Country

PODCAST — The VL Pod is back, celebrating a big anniversary for Abby Panthers football, and a new cross-country season for the SFU Clan

Varsity Letters — The Podcast is back with episode No. 2 in our re-launch. This week, we open our show with a high school football theme, celebrating Saturday’s 35th anniversary of the Abbotsford Panthers’ 1984 B.C. championship win over the Notre Dame Jugglers. Paul Gill, Denis Kelly and Jalem Catlin are all a part of […]

SFU starting quarterback Justin Seiber will not play Saturday at Angelo State. The team is hoping his ankle injury won't end his 2019 campaign after just one game. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Simon Fraser Clan athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

Football Clan will huddle Saturday in Texas without QB-1 Seiber, reserves at the ready as SFU awaits further test on pivot’s injured ankle

BURNABY — The Simon Fraser Clan football team will play this weekend in Texas without its regular starting field general in the huddle.Clan head coach Thomas Ford confirmed Wednesday morning that sophomore quarterback Justin Seiber would not play in the team’s Saturday clash in San Angelo, TX (4 p.m.) against the Angelo State Rams of […]

The play of Lord Tweedsmuir's Noah Anderson (8, with ball last season vs. STM) in Friday's win over New Westminster is a big reason Surrey's Panthers have moved up to No. 2 in first in-season VL Big 5 AAA rankings of the 2019 season. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

Varsity Letter’s 09.09.19 Big 5 B.C. high school football rankings: Tweedsmuir Panthers, Langley Saints make early climbs

LANGLEY — Week One of the 2019 B.C. high school football season saw a complete non-conference look to the schedule.Already, however, we’ve got change at both tiers in the very first in-season Varsity Letters’ Big 5 provincial rankings:TRIPLE A1 Vancouver College Fighting Irish (1-0, 0-0) (LW-1)LW — Def. Kelowna 34-7.TW — Friday at St. Thomas […]

Simon Fraser running back Solomon Hines is gang-tackled by the Portland State defence during the host Vikings' 70-7 win Saturday. (Photo by Larry Lawson property of Portland State athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

Clan’s lopsided loss at Portland State a tale of two halves, now Simon Fraser awaits word on health of injured starting QB Justin Seiber

If you are going to judge a football game solely by its final score, then you didn’t need to watch Portland State’s 70-7 victory Saturday afternoon against the visiting Simon Fraser Clan.Yet if you did watch, at least for the first half anyways, you had to admit that SFU was playing a game which was […]

Terry Fox's Kyle Huish (5) is one of a host of visiting Ravens attempting to slow the progress of South Delta running back Damon Badenhorst on Saturday in Tsawwassen. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

FINAL EDITION: Varsity Letter’s Saturday B.C. High School Football Report 09.07.19 edition

Saturday marks an end to our first week of the B.C. High School Football Report.SATURDAYEXHIBITION ST. FRANCIS (Calg.) 37 at No. 2 MT. DOUGLAS 0VICTORIA —They are No. 2 at the highest tier of competition in Alberta, and on Saturday, Tier 1 No. 1-ranked St. Francis of Calgary proved too much for the host and B.C. […]

UBC head coach Blake Nill takes his team into a pivotal week of practice as the 'Birds attempt to rebound from an 0-2 start to the Canada West season. (File photo by Bob Frid property of UBC athletics)
Feature University Football

Saskatchewan 40 UBC 7: Thunderbirds’ first 0-2 start in the Blake Nill-era leaves plenty of questions with Dinos up next

Sometimes clichés are unavoidable, and in the case of the UBC Thunderbirds football team, there is no better way to paint their predicament than to say they are caught between a rock and a hard place.Friday’s 40-7 drubbing in Saskatoon at the hands of the defending Hardy Cup champion Saskatchewan Huskies not only leaves the […]

Ty Martens (right) got into the swing of things on Friday, throwing a touchdown pass and helping lead the host Robert Bateman Timberwolves to a season-opening win over Surrey's Sullivan Heights Stars in Abbotsford. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

FINAL EDITION: Varsity Letters’ Week 1 B.C. High School Football Report for 09.06.19

That’s a wrap for Week One of the Varsity Letter’s B.C.High School Football Report!We’ve got an abbreviated schedule on Saturday, but check back with us for the results of some very big games!Thanks to all of the coaches who took part today.FRIDAYEXHIBITIONCARSON GRAHAM 0 at CLEVELAND (Wash.) 13 SEATTLE — Host Cleveland made it a battle for […]

Impossible to miss, Simon Fraser wide receiver Rysen John has been working on being impossible to stop as he opens his senior season Saturday against an NCAA Div. 1 Portland State team which might be one of the best teams the Clan program has faced in recent times. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football University Football

SFU’s football mojo is Rysen! As new season dawns, senior wideout Rysen John wants to take Clan to its loftiest NCAA heights yet

BURNABY — You can’t say there are a ton of certainties for a rising football team striving to establish both winning credentials and recognizable identity within the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.Yet Simon Fraser Clan head coach Thomas Ford is willing to put it all on the line when asked about one member of his 2019 […]

Trinity Western's fourth-year defender Kristen Sakaki (left) had her love affair with the beautiful game reaffirmed during the Spartans' 12-day training camp in England last month. (Photo by Scott Stewart property of Trinity Western athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Soccer

TWU women’s soccer: On eve of 2019 season opener, training camp in England reminds Spartans of their “love and joy” for the beautiful game

LANGLEY — It wasn’t a trip planned specifically as a soccer pilgrimage.Training camps are serious business, and when you’ve played in five of the last seven U Sports national title games like the women’s team from Langley’s Trinity Western University have, it’s pretty clear that no part of the process can be ignored.Yet allowing that […]