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 […]

Simon Fraser's Devin O'Hea is that rare student-athlete able to make the switch fro football to soccer. (Photos by Jacob Hall and Paul Yates property of Simon Fraser Clan athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Soccer

The unique talents of Simon Fraser’s Devin O’Hea: Clan’s super sophomore makes the rare switch from football receiver to soccer striker

BURNABY —  For his entire athletic career, Devin O’Hea has had a tough time defining which version of football best fit his definition of The Beautiful Game.That is, until this season, when one of the most rare dual-sport athletes in a half-century plus of Simon Fraser Clan athletics decided it was time to look at […]

New Westminster Hyacks head football coach Farhan Lalji (left) and UBC head men's basketball coach Kevin Hanson each visit with host Howard Tsumura as Varsity Letters -- The Podcast returns to the pod stream. (Photos by Howard Tsumura and Richard Lam property of VarsityLetters.ca and UBC athletics)
Feature High School Football Podcast University Men's Basketball

We’re back! Varsity Letters – The Podcast makes its return! UBC hoops coach Hanson, New West football coach Lalji stop in to chat

LANGLEY — There’s a sense deja vu filtering through the airwaves this week around the province of B.C. with return of Varsity Letters-The Podcast. Long a weekly staple during my years at The Vancouver Province, we’re back for the first time since 2016, right here at our new home at VarsityLetters.ca This week, we’re honoured […]

After returning from Hawaii this weekend, the St. Thomas More Knights get right back to action Friday at Burnaby Lakes against Notre Dame. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

STM’s Knights fall at undefeated Honolulu-Damien, but RB Nick Osho cracks century mark, aerial attack shows great promise

HONOLULU— Led by the performance of running back Nick Osho, Burnaby’s St. Thomas More Knights hit the ground running Saturday night in Hawaii, and now they hope to keep their stride as they return to B.C. for this coming Friday’s official start to the 2019 provincial high school football season.As well, senior Alex Cordeiro caught […]