Back in the early 1980s, Jay Prepchuk, who would go on to serve on both the UBC and SFU coaching staffs, was a record-setting pivot for Simon Fraser. (Photo property SFU athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

Having grown up in the game, Simon Fraser’s 1980 Shrum Bowl MVP Jay Prepchuk, a former UBC and SFU coach, cherishes the return of the grand game!

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — If there’s one area that any wannabe Shrum Bowl historian will find tough sledding, it’s determining the reasons why the series stuck to either U.S. or Canadian rules for extended periods of time throughout its history.For example, as local broadcaster and Football Canada president Jim Mullin points out, the reason the first […]

He's far from the tallest, but Terry Fox Ravens' running back Xyon Fleary, coming off a 301-yard rushing performance last week against Kelowna, leads all of B.C. high school football in yards along the ground in 2022. (Photo by Becky Severy 2022. All Rights Reserved)
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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 […]

Simon Fraser safety Gideone Kremler will bring his No. 1 Red Leafs' jersey along with a singular focus into action Saturday as the locals open the 2022 season against visiting Central Washington. (Photo by Garrett James property of SFU athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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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 — […]

UBC Thunderbirds' linebacker Ryan Baker has his focus set on the U SPORTS' No. 2-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies on Friday night in Saskatoon. (Photo by Richard Lam property of UBC athletics 2022. All Rights Reserved)
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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 […]

Your author, presenting with pride, the MVP trophy at the 2015 Tsumura Basketball Invitational, to McMath Wildcats' Jessica Jones. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2015 All Rights Reserved)
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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 […]

By whatever new name B.C.'s high school football championships come to be known by, the emotion of its players will remain the same. In what is now the final Subway Bowl season on record, G.W. Graham's Theo Smith (2) and Colton Mocon found reason to celebrate a championship this past December at B.C. Place Stadium. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

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 […]

B.C. high school football saw a big gain in player registration but also a steep decline in its coaching numbers. Is this the new normal? (Photo by Blair Shier property of Blair.photo 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

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 […]

Celebrating a title are G.W. Graham's Theo Smith (2) and Colton Mocon during Saturday's 2021 Subway Bowl B.C. AAA Coastal championship final at B.C. Place Stadium. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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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's Ashton Fink is all focus as he hauls in a touchdown pass from quarterback Logan Mellish with Bateman's Braeden Tuchscherer defending. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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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 […]

St. Thomas More's Sebastian Gorrie sacks Vancouver College quarterback Finn Teasdale, forcing the Irish to kick a short field late in the third quarter of Subway Bowl B.C. AAA Coastal junior varsity final. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

Coach Dave Ruzycki gets a hero’s send-off! STM coach ends 20-year career with Subway Bowl B.C. junior AAA Coastal title after win over Fighting Irish!

VANCOUVER — The championship photo had been taken under the goal posts at B.C. Place Stadium on Saturday, and that’s when St. Thomas More’s Subway Bowl B.C. junior AAA Coastal championship final was official.Wait, not until virtually every player on the squad came over to offer a hug to the Knights’ longtime head coach Dave […]