Playoff football’s most defining moments have a way of coming out of the shadows and taking our breath away.Yet beyond the most obvious ways in which they dole equal parts joy and despair to their most loyal fans, they also seem to deliver, with barometric precision, a universal truth about their victors.That’s what I was […]
High School Football
How Terry Fox’s Xyon Fleary became a giant in the Ravens’ backfield, and why he takes Terry Fox HC Tom Kudaba back to blocking for Larry Key on the 1970s BC Lions!
PORT COQUITLAM — In the preseason, the Terry Fox Ravens didn’t look at their compact and largely-untested senior running back as an X-factor kind of player.Yet as PoCo’s Triple-A No. 4-ranked Ravens (3-1) hunker down Friday (7 p.m.) at Coquitlam’s Percy Perry Stadium to host Surrey’s Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers (2-2) in the Central Division opener […]
Red Leafs Football Notebook 09.21.22: The return of senior receiver Ethan Beselt, the impact of junior corner Jerrell Cummings, and more as Simon Fraser heads to Texas off CWU loss!
BURNABY — Ethan Beselt had long since stopped counting the days since his last football game.All the unflappable Simon Fraser Red Leafs’ receiver knew was that it had been a long, long time.For the record, it was 1,037 days, which within the window of eligibility for an NCAA student-athlete is indeed nothing short of an […]
For Simon Fraser Red Leafs’ defensive back Gideone Kremler, finding his inner ‘safety’ comes after a pain-stamped journey to the top of Burnaby Mountain!
BURNABY — A framed photo sits on the dresser drawer of his room in the Burquitlam rental he shares with six other housemates, and for Simon Fraser sophomore safety Gideone Kremler, all it takes is a simple daily glance back at his 12-year-old self to understand — despite all of the pain and disappointment — […]
From offence to defence, UBC’s Ryan Baker now the ‘tackle maker’ … Thunderbirds’ linebacker records 13 tackles in opening win! No. 9 ‘Birds at No. 2 Sask Huskies on Friday!
VANCOUVER — Ryan Baker came to UBC four years ago with a football resume seemingly as vast as the geographic dimensions of the school’s sprawling Point Grey campus.Now, five seasons into a gridiron career punctuated by not only the pandemic, but by a switch from one side of the ball to the other, the prowess […]
A message from Howard: After 40 years, I’ll bring a new writing direction to Varsity Letters for the 2022-23 high school and university sports season!
NORTH DELTA – Heartfelt greetings to all of you, my loyal, longtime readers.It’s been five months since I decided to take a break from my writing life.As was the goal from the very start, my decision to take sabbatical after 40 years of daily practice — first from my typewriter, and of course later, in […]
Saying ‘good-bye’ to Subway Bowl! After 20 years, B.C.’s high school football championships ready to embrace a new title sponsor!
VANCOUVER — It had one of the best names ever… you know, one of those names which so quickly became unforgettable, earning a place in our sports vernacular so accepted that we never, ever considered its eventual demise.Yet now, after two decades at the centre of most every conversation about high school football in this […]
Why B.C. high school football’s latest numbers might just be the first barometre of the new normal in our provincial high school sports world!
VANCOUVER — Set against the unpredictable backdrop of a pandemic now just weeks shy of its second birthday in this province, no one can yet fully define what the so-called new normal in B.C. high school sports is going to look like.B.C. high school football, however, released numbers earlier this week which may well provide […]
Subway Bowl 2021 gets its fitting finale! G.W. Graham Grizzlies edge Terry Fox Ravens 36-33 as BC high school football closes out a sizzling playoff season!
VANCOUVER — It happened somewhere around the time that Tyson Kelly picked up a bad point-after snap and ran it into the end zone for a two-point convert.Midway through the first quarter of Saturday’s Subway Bowl B.C. AAA Coastal final, Kelly and the rest of Chilliwack’s G.W. Graham Grizzlies had answered a game-opening touchdown drive […]
Carson Graham mounts goal-line stand in OT, and in an epic Subway Bowl AA win over Robert Bateman it’s the fraction which decides a battle for the ages!
VANCOUVER — The longest yard.That’s what it came down to Saturday night at B.C. Place Stadium as the football gods pitted two incredibly talented and evenly-matched teams in a battle for the Subway Bowl B.C. Double A Coastal championship title.In a game that went to overtime, North Vancouver’s Carson Graham Eagles got a goal-line stand […]