South Delta quarterback Michael Calvert struck late to help the Sun Devils stun Tacoma's Foss. (Photo courtesy Gord Goble/Delta Optimist)
Feature High School Football

09.01.17: Varsity Letter’s Friday Night Lights B.C. High School Football Report

Welcome to the Friday Night Lights edition of Varsity Letters’ B.C. High School Football Report.It’s a small, Labour Day weekend edition with three game reports. The full schedule hits next week.FRIDAYTRIPLE ASCAPPOOSE (ORE.) 51 at No. 2 NEW WESTMINSTER 14NEW WESTMINSTER — The visiting Indians scored early and often, putting touchdowns on the board in […]

UBC head coach Blake Nill had nothing to smile about after his team fell by 16 points in its Canada West opener Friday in Regina. (Glen McMurchy photo for UBC athletics)
Feature University Football

‘Birds boss Nill pulls no punches, announces gut-check time after UBC falls in penalty-fest fashion at Regina

It was a conference-opening effort that tried to dispel the notion that the UBC Thunderbirds had actually held practices before they took to the field on Friday night at Regina’s new Mosaic Stadium.Of course they had, and of course they remain one of the nation’s most talented teams.Yet the No. 7-ranked ’Birds (0-1) can’t exactly […]

After a four-year apprenticeship at middle linebacker, Jordan Leech moves into Jordan Herdman's starting spot Saturday in Phoenix. (Ron Hole, SFU athletics)
Feature University Football

Soaking it all up, Clan senior linebacker Leech brings patience, Herdman-mentality to new starting role

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — As a health sciences major at Simon Fraser University, Clan middle linebacker Jordan Leech is aware of two different definitions of the word ‘osmosis’.

Flashing the team's mantra on the back of his t-shirt, Abbotsford Panthers head coach Jay Fujimura addressed his troops during practice on Wednesday. (Varsity Letters photo by Howard Tsumura)
Feature High School Football

Abby Panthers: All’s well with Samwel, but No. 1 AA team thrives on its mantra of equal shine

ABBOTSFORD — Maybe the greatest thing to behold in the recent resurgence of the Abbotsford Panthers football program isn’t the fact that they’ve produced two of the century’s most dynamic B.C. high school football talents.

Your Big 5 AA and AAA football rankings to start the 2017 season (BC High School Football)
Feature High School Football

Varsity Letters ‘Big 5’ 2017 B.C. high school football preseason rankings

It’s time to roll out Varsity Letters’ Big 5 rankings for AA and AAA B.C. high school football.Note that we debuted the AAA Big 5 last spring on our site with team-by-team previews. Our AAA honourable mentions, however, along with the full AA package, are brand new.Click here for a full look at AA No. […]

UBC's Alex Morrison started off the 2017 season Wednesday with six catches in a win over Alberta. (Richard Lam/UBC athletics)
Feature University Football

UBC’s Alex Morrison returns to ‘Birds for football ‘finishing school’, new tight end gig preps him for CFL future

VANCOUVER — UBC’s Alex Morrison may not have made the final cut with the Montreal Alouettes this past June, but he’s determined to make the CFL his future, and the big man in his corner back home at Thunderbird Stadium is doing everything he can to help ensure that happens.To that end, ‘Birds head coach […]

Broxx Comia (5) and the rest of the New Westminster Hyacks opened the 2017 season in California Friday with a victory. (File photo by Alan Wardle)
Feature High School Football

Hyacks’ defence looks special in debut, New West grabs dynamic victory in Southern Cal

Varsity Letters welcomes a new season and its first-ever B.C. High School Football Report after over a decade at The Province. We hope you’ll be with us all season for the most comprehensive provincial football reports in the nation!NEW WESTMINSTER 22 at LINFIELD CHRISTIAN (Cal.) 9

Fifth-year senior middle blocker Madison Power (11) brings a bushel of intangibles to the Clan volleyball team. (Ron Hole/SFU athletics)
Feature University Women's Volleyball

The Power of Maddy: Clan senior Madison Power a foundational key in success of SFU volleyball

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — Ask Gina Schmidt about her first official day on the job as the then-new head coach of the Simon Fraser Clan volleyball team and you get a story filled with both comedy and karma.“I watched one practice where they weren’t really doing a lot of game play,” Schmidt remembers of a day […]

UBC receiver Will Watson was a key part of the 'Birds dynamic first-half offence Wednesday night in Kamloops. (Richard Lam, UBC athletics photo)
Feature University Football

TSUMURA: My ‘Top 5 takeaways’ from ‘Birds preseason football opener as UBC tops Alberta 33-30

The UBC Thunderbirds’ youthful ways led to some anxious moments on Wednesday.Yet its first-unit players, in all three phases, looked as devastating as they ever have as the Blake Nill-era entered its third season in the Southern Interior.With quarterback Michael O’Connor and a healthy UBC offence, bolstered by a deep core of running backs and […]

UBC freshman running back Shane Noel (right) takes a handoff from quarterback Parker Simson during fall camp practice in Vancouver. (Richard Lam/UBC athletics)
Feature University Football

‘Sugar Shane’ brings sweet feet to Thunderbird Stadium, ex-STMC back ready to take flight with ‘Birds

VANCOUVER — If the reports from training camp carry over into the regular season, then a popular touchdown anthem at Thunderbird Stadium this fall is going to be a sound bite of the line ‘Sugar, Sugar’ from that infectious 1969 bubble-gum pop smash by The Archies.