Argyle's long-striding Ryan Holden snared a pair of 30-yard touchdown passes Friday in the Pipers' win over Windsor. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Blair.photo 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football

Varsity Letters’ 10.01.21 ‘A day late, but not a dollar short’ edition of the Friday Night Lights’ B.C. High School Football Report!

Welcome to the one-day-later version of the B.C. High School Football Report’s Friday Nights Lights edition.Thanks to all for understanding my previously-scheduled engagement with UBC football. We are back to our normal schedule for the remainder of the season.And thanks this week to Varsity Letters’ kind photographic contributors: Blair Shier, Joanne Hewitt, Rick Macdonald and […]

UBC rookie quarterback Garrett Rooker knows his team has to get off to quicker starts on offence as the Thunderbirds' Canada West season is set to hit its midway mark in its next game, Oct. 16 on the road against the Regina Rams (Photo by Richard Lam property of UBC athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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After red-zone & special teams struggles add up to home-opening loss to Huskies, UBC coach Nill resolute: “I am not ready to give up on the season, it’s a baptism by fire!”

VANCOUVER — On Friday, the calendar turned to October as the UBC Thunderbirds kicked off one of their latest home-openers on record.Yet in the aftermath of a 43-15 loss to the visiting, No. 9-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies before a sell-out crowd of 2,500 at the stadium, just the team’s second game of a shortened six-game Canada […]

UBC's Texas Tornado, freshman quarterback Garrett Rooker, gets his first home start under true Friday Night Lights conditions when the Blue and Gold pay host to the Saskatchewan Huskies. (Photo by Don Voklander property of U of Alberta athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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Ahead of Friday’s UBC home opener, Saskatchewan head coach Scott Flory tips his cap to a gutsy debut by ‘Birds rookie QB Garrett Rooker!

VANCOUVER — Last Saturday, there was a moment when UBC rookie Garrett Rooker showed us all both the kind of quarterback he already is and the kind of leader he is surely set to become.Rooker, in what may well be one of the best-ever statistical debuts by a ‘Birds freshman quarterback, went 32-of-45 for 372 […]

UBC Thunderbirds head coach Blake Nill knows that the Saskatchewan Huskies will bring an old-school mentality to the 'Birds home opener on Friday. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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UBC football home-opener 2021: Young ‘Birds to get physical test from Sask. Huskies, says coach Nill: “They’re a tough, old-school program that plays the game like it’s the 50s, 60s and 70’s”

VANCOUVER — The more you play the Saskatchewan Huskies, the more things stay the same.That tweak on a classic cliche was so apropos this week, because when Varsity Letters chatted mid-week with UBC Thunderbirds’ veteran head coach Blake Nill, you could almost feel the need to check your figurative chin strap.Looking ahead to the ‘Birds […]

Centennial Centaurs' Ziad Sabry has put almost two full seasons of disappointment behind him with a blistering breakout game last week against Abbotsford. (Photo by Hasti Mohammadi property of Centennial Athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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Varsity Letters’ BCSSFA Player of the Week: For Centennial Centaurs’ running back Ziad Sabry, there is sweet joy in a comeback two years in the making!

COQUITLAM — When Ziad Sabry runs onto the field at Chilliwack’s Exhibition Stadium this Friday for a tough AAA East clash against the host G.W. Graham Grizzlies, he’ll no doubt smile to himself, so glad that two years ago, he decided to take endure the path less taken.Last week, in fact, almost two full years […]

W.J. Mouat Hawks' receiver Ercy Avul totalled almost 200 yards in receptions to go along with one touchdown in an overtime win last Friday over the Mission Roadrunners. (Photo property of W.J. Mouat athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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Varsity Letters’ BCSSFA Player of the Week: For WJ Mouat Hawks’ receiver Ercy Avul, a breakout game comes with hard work, and assists from uncles Bo and Nelson Lokombo!

ABBOTSFORD: Ercy Avul has some pretty amazing football bloodlines, yet ask the W.J. Mouat Hawks’ senior receiver/safety about his uncles Boseko and Nelson Lokombo, and it’s as much or more what they have given him in terms of off-field advice than between the lines.“Nelson had to go through high school always being known as Bo’s […]

Fresh off a championship title at the UBC Thunderbirds Invitational this past weekend on the Point Grey campus, the Kelowna Owls open at No. 1 in the first AAA rankings of the 2021 season. (Photo property of Kelowna Secondary athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C. Boys Volleyball Rankings 2021: Kelowna Owls, fresh off UBC Invite title open at AAA No. 1, MEI Eagles and Abby Christian also open the re-start at No. 1

LANGLEY — The B.C. senior boys volleyball season,already underway underway the past three weeks, on Tuesday issued its first set of provincial rankings for the 2021 season, one which will be capped Dec. 1-4 when Kelowna and Okanagan Mission secondary schools play host to the provincial championships.The Kelowna Owls, who open 2021 at No. 1 […]

The Carson Graham Eagles and Windsor Dukes go their separate ways after an all-North Vancouver clash last Friday. This week the Eagles play in Surrey against the Holy Cross Crusaders, while the Dukes stay within the city limits for a battle with the Argyle Pipers. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Blair.photo 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C. High School Football Weekend Survival Guide 09.28.21 edition: At AAA, it’s an Irish-Rams-Jugglers-Ravens-Grizz world, but there’s a new No. 1 at AA, plus complete schedules and scores!

LANGLEY — B.C. high school football’s first month of play is in the books.Welcome to the October, the month ahead which defines the contenders for the Subway Bowl B.C. championships.This week, Varsity Letter’s Weekend Survival Guide lays out the schedule for conference football at both tiers and in all divisions.We’ve got it all here, starting […]

Guard Vrix De Pano (left) and John Albright celebrate a moment in Saturday's win by Sullivan Heights over Frank Hurt. (Wilson Wong photo property of Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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Stars in their eyes! After two years of losing, Sullivan Heights football snaps its 0-for-21 streak with first win in program history!

SURREY — The Sullivan Heights Stars may have been in a state of total elation Saturday afternoon, yet even though it was a sporting rite of passage they as a group had never been able to experience before, they carried it off it the grandest of fashion.After the program’s first-ever varsity victory — 40-0 over […]

Vancouver College running back Tommy Carvalho carries against the backdrop of a packed O'Hagan Field crowd Saturday in Vancouver. (Photo property of Bernie Crump 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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Fighting Irish vs. Knights: A traditional rivalry gets gleaming treatment! Fall high school football’s full spectacle comes to O’Hagan Field as 2,500 watch No. 1 Van College blank STM!

VANCOUVER — A three-game season-opening homestand at its own O’Hagan Field couldn’t have felt more like, well… home, sweet home for the defending B.C. AAA champion and No. 1-ranked Vancouver College Fighting Irish.Yet within the guts of a 32-0 win Saturday over one of its true traditional rivals, Burnaby’s St. Thomas More Knights, the Irish […]