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 three minutes of the Huskies’ Hardy Cup semifinal game against the host UBC Thunderbirds.
And without them, Saskatchewan would never have completed a shocking 38-33 rally, and would surely not be preparing to host the Hardy Cup championship game Saturday (11 a.m. PDT, 1 p.m. CST, Canada West TV, Telus Optik TV) against the Regina Rams.
“It was so special to do it here,” the wiry, ever-smiling Avul said of a return to his B.C. high school stomping grounds, “especially with my family and friends all here. That was a lot of fun.”
Avul had missed his Grade 11 season as part of the COVID shutdown in 2020, had an outstanding senior year with the Hawks in 2021, then packed up for Saskatchewan where he had redshirted the past two seasons.
As noted earlier in the week as part of our game report, Saskatchewan mounted a stunning rally behind two touchdowns 31 seconds apart over the final minute of the game.
The capper came after the Huskies recovered an onside kick with 54 seconds left and ultimately scored the winning major on a one-yard run by running back Ryker Frank.
And while that series stood on its own, it took two amazing plays by the wiry-but-tough 6-foot-2 receiver to even make the miracle finish possible.
And what a 108-second span it was for Avul.
First, he forced a fumble on an interception by UBC safety Max Kennedy with a perfect helmet-to-ball hit which was soon recovered by teammate Frank, snuffing out what was a potential game-clinching drive by UBC.
Then with one minute left on the clock, he lined up wide to the boundary side and like a sprinter hitting his best stride, simply out-ran the the UBC coverage to catch a 33-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Anton Amundrud, pulling his team out of the abyss and to within 33-31.
And while his forced-fumble hit came within a split second of Kennedy’s interception, Avul admitted afterwards that he did not simply react in the moment.
Instead, he was being directed by a flashback moment from earlier in the season.
Late in Saskatchewan’s 38-24 regular-season loss to UBC back on Sept. 20 at Thunderbird Stadium, the ‘Birds William Hunter had managed to intercept an Amundrud pass.
Like this past Saturday, Avul was right there to make a play on the pick.
“Last time we played here, I had a tackle on an interception, too,” he said. “But I felt like I didn’t get their fast enough to really make a hit. This time I saw the guy get the interception come down, and then I thought ‘OK, I just got to try and take him down.’ The next thing I saw, the ball popped out and my teammate got it. I was just ecstatic. I feel like it boosted our team a lot in that moment.”
While the play may stand as the first early flash of greatness in Avul’s university career, it was not a total surprise to Andrew Harder, his former head coach at Mouat who watched it all unfold on Canada West TV.
“Defensively, he was tall and skinny as a Grade 12 but he could really hit,” Harder recalled of Avul earlier this week, “so when he made that big play for Sask in the semi-final game it was something our coaching staff had seen him do a few times before.
“After two redshirt years, it’s great to see him growing into his own man,” Harder added. “He is genuinely one of the nicest kids we have had in the program, always has a big smile and is happy to see everyone.”
Saskatchewan head coach Scott Flory first noticed Avul as younger high schooler right around the time he was recruiting fellow Mouat star running back Nelson Lokombo, the latter whom he later turned into a fulltime star safety, fast-tracking his ascension U Sports 2019 Defensive POY, and ultimately the second pick overall by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the 2021 CFL Draft.
Nelson Lokombo, now playing in the secondary of the Roughriders, and his older brother Boseko, a veteran linebacker with the B.C. Lions, are both uncles of Avul.
“He has battled,” begins Flory. “Ercy had a really good camp and he’s been in and out (of the main receiver rotation). But now, he’s taken over that boundary wide-out position these past five games. And… he’s making plays.
“Obviously that vertical he caught at the end for the touchdown was a beautiful throw-and-read by Anton,” he continued. “Ercy’s a great kid. I’ve known about him since the ninth grade. I knew that he could play.”
Saskatchewan has another Mouat recruit on his roster in cornerback Sam Pratt
This past Saturday may not have been an especially memorable one for B.C. football fans on both the Canada West and CFL fronts.
And some of that was due to the nephew-uncle connection from Abbotsford.
While Avul was wreaking havoc on the UBC Thunderbirds with his late-game heroics, his uncle Nelson was making his first career interception as part of the Riders’ 28-19 Western Conference semifinal win over the B.C. Lions.
If the football gods decide to wear Saskatchewan-hued green this weekend, both Ercy and his uncle Nelson could take another step towards claiming ultimate prizes in Canadian football.
Back in 2021, Avul reflected to your author on what he cherished most about his football-rooted family tree. Here is selection from that story, verbatim:
“Nelson had to go through high school always being known as Bo’s younger brother, and that is kind of how I felt being Nelson’s nephew,” begins Avul, selected this week as Varsity Letter’s B.C. High School Football Player of the Week after making eight catches for 198 yards and a touchdown in the Hawks’ thrilling 35-34 overtime win last Friday over the Mission Roadrunners.
“So I have really felt like Nelson has taught me to be my own person,” he continued of his younger uncle, a 2017 Mouat grad who this past May was the No. 2 overall pick in the CFL Draft by the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
“Bo has helped me so much as well on the football side,” continued Avul of the elder Lokombo, a record-setting former Mouat running back, standout linebacker with the Oregon Ducks, and now playing the same role for the B.C. Lions. “Both of them have just been a big help in my life.”
This past Saturday was just another reminder of how the roots planted in B.C. high school football families just keep growing deeper and deeper.
And how after so many seasons of waiting, one of them, Ercy Avul, is stretching his branches towards the sun.
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