Bloodied but unbowed, Saskatchewan's Ercy Avul (18), an Abbotsford-WJ Mouat grad, comes together with teammate Jesse Kuntz Saturday as the Huskies rallied late in the fourth quarter to stun UBC 38-33 Nov. 2, 2024 in the Canada West Hardy Cup semifinals at Thunderbird Stadium. (Photo by Bob Frid property of UBC Athletics 2024. (All Rights Reserved)
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Tracing the football journey of W.J. Mouat Hawks grad Ercy Avul: From Abbotsford to Saskatoon, his late heroics help Sask Huskies grab Hardy Cup finals berth!

VANCOUVER — How long had Ercy Avul worked and waited for what was about as glorious a 108-second span a football player can experience?Last Saturday, Saskatchewan receiver and Abbotsford-W.J. Mouat grad Avul, who prior to the current campaign had missed three of his last four seasons, announced himself with two brilliant plays over the final […]

The Saskatchewan Huskies rallied late in the fourth quarter to stun UBC 38-33 Nov. 2, 2024 in the Canada West Hardy Cup semifinals at Thunderbird Stadium. (Photo by Bob Frid property of UBC Athletics 2024. All Rights Reserved)
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Late rally by Saskatchewan stuns UBC 38-33 in opening playoff round! Thunderbirds head coach Nill: “I don’t know what to say. I have never been a part of anything that drastic before”

VANCOUVER — When it comes to a post-mortem discussion of the 2024 UBC Thunderbirds football season, one which ended with a stunning 38-33 Hardy Cup semifinal home field loss to the Saskatchewan Huskies, you must first determine the focal length at which the conversation must begin.So do you want to take the macro view of […]

Nicolas Hauka is back with Week 9 reports this weekend. (Photo courtesy Nicolas Hauka 2024. All Rights Reserved)
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Week 9: The B.C. School Sports Red Zone provincial high school football report 11.01.24 edition with Nicolas Hauka!

Week 9 of the B.C. high school football season is now upon us and there is no there place better to keep abreast of the happenings than Nic Hauka’s BCSS Red Zone report.As usual, we remind you to check back throughout the weekend for game updates!Click here for Week 9 game reports 

Nicolas Hauka is back with Week 6 reports this weekend. (Photo courtesy Nicolas Hauka 2024. All Rights Reserved)
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Week 6: The B.C. School Sports Red Zone provincial high school football report 10.11.24 edition with Nicolas Hauka!

We’ve hit Week 6 of the season, and like we do here every Friday at Varsity Letters, we’ve got your link to the BC School Sports Red Zone Report with Nicolas Hauka.Click here to read Nic’s game reports, and keep checking back throughout the night!

Welcome to Week 5 of the BC high school football season. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Blair.photo 2024. All Rights Reserved)
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Week 5: The B.C. School Sports Red Zone provincial high school football report 10.04.24 edition with Nicolas Hauka!

It’s Week 5 of the season, and we do here every Friday, here’s your link to the BC School Sports Red Zone Report with Nicolas Hauka.Click here to read Nic’s game reports, and keep checking back throughout the night!  

UBC's dynamic bookend duo of offensive tackles -- Giovanni Manu (left) and Theo Bendet -- are all smile this past Nov. 11 after leading UBC to the Hardy Cup conference championship at Thunderbird Stadium. Next stop: NFL? We'll have to wait until draft day to find out. (Photo by Bob Frid property of UBC Athletics 2023 All Rights Reserved)
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The story of Gio and Theo: UBC’s book-end offensive tackles bring rare size and athleticism to the party! NFL teams and major pundits can’t help but be impressed ahead of 2024 draft!

By Howard TsumuraVANCOUVER — The story of Gio and Theo is the story of two ‘Made-in-B.C.’ high school football products who not only made the decision to play for their home university team, but along that  journey turned themselves into the kinds of players with a chance to play in the National Football League.UBC offensive lineman […]

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)
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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 […]