South Delta quarterback Ben McDonald is set to install a singular identity with his 2019 Sun Devils. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Blair.photo 2019. All rights reserved)
Feature High School Football

South Delta opens VL’s 2019 AAA football countdown at No. 5: QB Ben McDonald and gaggle of seniors give Sun Devils a true identity

After a week away, we’re back in the high school football huddle, this time looking ahead to September with our Varsity Letters’ Big 5 AAA preseason rankings. Triple A coaches from around the province case their votes, and thus we begin the countdown today at No. 5:

Varsity Letter's Big 5 B.C. Triple-A football rankings will be revealed next week. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca)
Feature High School Football

Oops! Our B.C. high school football AAA Big 5 rankings countdown delayed one week

LANGLEY — We’ve had to delay the start of our annual B.C. high school football Triple-A rankings countdown.Apologies to all of our loyal readers.Despite advertising Monday as our launch date, yours truly has overestimated his ability to produce the five daily team profiles required to count us down to our No. 1 team in the […]

A bigger, strong, faster Liam Reid (52) is one reason the defending champion Vernon Panthers top the Varsity letters' B.C. Double A preseason football coaches poll. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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On the prowl again, defending champion Vernon Panthers hold AA No. 1 ranking as they take on tough encore assignment

Welcome to the fifth instalment of our five-team countdown to No. 1!Today, Varsity Letters presents our look at the No. 1 team in the preseason B.C. Double A coaches poll.Beginning Monday, we will start the countdown of the Top 5 Triple A football teams.VERNON — The 2018-19 B.C. high school sports season isn’t even 100 […]

G.W. Graham Grizzlies' rising Grade 11 quarterback Grayson Frick will key one of the province's deepest and most talented receiving cores this fall in Chilliwack. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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Ready to see the fur fly? Buchwitz, Frick and rest of GW Graham’s rising JVs give No. 2 AA Grizz a real gridiron growl

CHILLIWACK — The era of the Grizzlies has seemingly arrived. While the NBA variety has been extinct in these part for the past near-20 seasons, the high school football species prowling in the eastern-most expanses of the Fraser Valley is just now starting to hit its championship-hopeful stride.

Outside linebacker Landon Wilson (centre, 42) is one of a much-improved class of John Barsby Bulldogs set to enter their senior season this September. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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Barsby’s rising class of senior talent has come a long ways, but next step the biggest for Nanaimo’s No.3-ranked AA Bulldogs

NANAIMO — Rob Stevenson has a huge place in his heart for the rising seniors which will populate the roster of this coming season’s John Barsby Bulldogs senior varsity football team.

Ballenas tacklers including (left to right) Adrian Friesen, Gage Geiger and Demar Hohnstein all return to the senior ranks of Parksville's Ballenas Whalers this season. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All rights reserved.)
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After plenty of heartbreak the hard way, Ballenas’ No. 4-ranked AA Whalers ready to make some waves

On Thursday, we introduced Abbotsford’s Robert Bateman Timberwolves as the No. 5 team as we opened our annual pre-season countdown of 2019’s top B.C. Double A high school football teams. Today, we swing over to Vancouver Island for No. 4. The countdown resumes Monday, and will be followed by our B.C. Triple A Big 5.

Robert Bateman's rising senior linebacker/fullback Jack Weinkauf (right) celebrates with SFU-bound teammate Sam Davenport during the Wolves' decisive Subway Bowl AA semifinal win over Holy Cross last November at B.C. Place. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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Robert Bateman looks to its rising senior Phoenix! Wolves come in at AA No. 5 as countdown to B.C. high school football 2019 begins

High school football season may still be over three months away. Yet how far can it really be when Varsity Letters starts its annual countdown of B.C.’s best teams?

Former Holy Cross star basketball player Jonathan Kongbo gave football a late try, and now goes from the Tennessee Volunteers to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. (Photo by Andrew Ferguson property of Tennessee athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football University Football

Eight B.C. high school football alums picked in 2019 CFL Draft! Coaches agree player development is on the rise

LANGLEY — B.C. high school football’s best night ever at the CFL draft? No one can be sure, yet what is certain is that the eight players chosen from some of this province’s top programs is the most in over a decade.

On Thursday, Michael O'Connor found out his CFL home will be in Toronto. On Friday, he goes to NFL rookie mini-camp with the Seattle Seahawks. (Photo by Richard Lam property of UBC athletics)
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Michael O’Connor: UBC’s humble superstar pivot finds a CFL home with Argos, takes to field with NFL’s Seattle Seahawks on Friday

VANCOUVER — Michael O’Connor wasn’t afraid of taking a road less traveled to achieve his dream of becoming a professional quarterback, and now more than ever, you can see the purpose in his steps.

Vernon's Liam Reid (right) guards Lord Tweedsmuir's Jackson Corneil during B.C. JV quarterfinal OT classic last season at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball High School Football

Vernon’s ‘Cats in the Cradle’ growing up fast! Young, talented Panthers take No. 2 rank into Bateman’s T-Wolves Classic

ABBOTSFORD — It’s happened precisely twice. That’s how many times over the first 73 years in which the B.C. senior boys basketball championships have been staged that a school won both senior varsity football and basketball championships in the same academic year.