VANCOUVER — The pre-game buzz last Friday in the hour or so leading up to kick-off at Thunderbird Stadium?How about the fact that UBC’s game-changing fifth-year senior outside linebacker Jaxon Ciraolo-Brown wound up as an 11th-hour scratch due to injury and had thus been shelved for the team’s Homecoming Game against the Saskatchewan Huskies, one […]
Tag: Howard Tsumura
Week 4: The B.C. School Sports Red Zone provincial high school football report 09.27.24 edition with Nicolas Hauka!
Week 4 of the 2024 B.C. high school football season is here!Once again, VarsityLetters.ca is honoured to introduce to as many readers as possible the work of young journalist Nicolas Hauka.Hope you’ve been able t find Nic’s work through this portal because if you have you can clearly see he has such a great feel […]
UBC’s mild-mannered super-hero? Rip off the mask and RB-1 Isaiah Knight is indeed the Night Rider!
VANCOUVER — As far as nicknames go, it’s hard to find one that fits better these days than the one given to UBC Thunderbirds’ star running back Isaiah Knight.At home last Friday, just four minutes into the proceedings against the Saskatchewan Huskies, Knight capped the game’s opening possession with a 13-yard cutback run from left […]
Tracing the route tree of UBC’s dynamic ‘Sudden Sam’ Davenport! Big-play receiver’s healthy gains coincide with ‘Birds rise as locals head to Calgary looking to extend conference win streak!
VANCOUVER — Take a stroll inside UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium in the hours ahead of Friday’s countdown to kick-off and chances are you’ll bump into the Thunderbirds’ star receiver Sam Davenport.Maybe he’s catching up with friends on the concourse level of one of the province’s most tradition-laden football churches.Or, perhaps he’s testing out one of those […]
UBC 14 Regina 12: Isaiah Knight carries the mail! A re-commitment to running game leads to first win of season as Thunderbirds rally past Regina Rams with fourth-quarter surge!
VANCOUVER — If you had been harbouring the unmistakable feeling over the first two weeks of the 2024 Canada West football season that the UBC Thunderbirds looked more like a team that had fumbled away its core identity, turns out you weren’t mistaken.Whether it was through patience, belief or perhaps good, old-fashioned desperation, the ‘Birds […]
Giovanni Manu comes home: On eve of season opener, UBC’s Pride of the (Detroit) Lions salutes his mentors past, relishes the chance to grow with the best offensive line in the NFL!
VANCOUVER — Perfect team. Perfect time. Perfect fit.So perfect, in fact, that you wonder if there had been more than a little divine intervention from the football gods above.How else does Giovanni Manu wind up a fourth-round pick of the Detroit Lions this past April, thus becoming the first UBC Thunderbird ever selected in the […]
Alberta 42 UBC 28: No. 7 Golden Bears huddle behind dominant O-line performance, win second-half war of attrition to top No. 3 UBC in Canada West opener at sold out Thunderbird Stadium!
VANCOUVER — Isn’t it amazing how the simplest play in football, when executed with precision and consistency, can shift a game’s entire equilibrium.Yes, we’re talking about running the football the way it was meant to be run.. behind a wall of powerful push, snap after snap after soul-crushing snap.And as on cue, as such syncopated […]
UBC football ’24: Can Thunderbirds find a way to snap 37-year Hardy Cup repeat drought? Ex-Dinos’ boss Wayne Harris reunites out west with old boss Blake Nill as ‘Birds new linebacker coach!
VANCOUVER — Last spring, coming off the team’s first Canada West title and Vanier Cup appearance since 2015, Blake Nill’s cel phone began to elicit some interesting activity from the 403 area code.“When the University of Calgary decided not to bring in Wayne for this season, it was funny because I got calls from three […]
UBC Football ’24: QB Garrett Rooker made Thunderbird Stadium his own ‘Home, Sweet Home’… Texas pivot soaked up Vancouver’s summer sun, now preps ‘Birds for Hardy Cup rematch Friday vs. Alberta!
VANCOUVER — Garrett Rooker has spent so much time on UBC’s Point Grey campus the past few months that the suburban Houston, TX neighbourhood of his youth may have, for the time being, defaulted in its status to that of his ‘second’ home.“I spent most of my summer here,” admitted the Thunderbirds’ fourth-year quarterback and […]
B.C. boys All-Star Saturday: We’ve got full rosters for all four teams as St. Thomas More hosts boys hoops finale April 20!
By Howard TsumuraLANGLEY — A galaxy of the some of the best graduating talent in the B.C. senior boys basketball Class of 2024 will gather at Burnaby’s St. Thomas More over the weekend.The occasion?None other than All-Star Saturday.Mark down Saturday, April 20 at STMC’s spacious gymnasium, located at 7450 12th Ave., Burnaby.The Single-A vs. Double-A […]