Westshore Rebels head coach Charly Cardilicchia had a simple, yet stern, message for this squad heading into tonight鈥檚 sa国际传媒 Football Conference game at Hillside Stadium in Kamloops against the lowly Broncos: 鈥淭his is not a stats-padding game.鈥�
After two emotionally and physically draining games to start the BCFC season, both of which were not decided until late in the fourth quarter, the Rebels meet a Broncos team that has been outscored 98-6 in two losses.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a trap week for us,鈥� warned Cardilicchia.
鈥淚t will be tough to match that intensity of facing [all-time BCFC winningest coach] Matt Blokker in Langley and then playing our all-time greatest rivals in the Okanagan Sun.鈥�
Westshore rallied in both games, edging Blokker鈥檚 Langley Rams 19-16 in the season opener on the Lower Mainland and tying the Sun 18-18 in last week鈥檚 home opener at Westhills Stadium.
鈥淲e know the Broncos will be coming after us, so we have to do what we do well,鈥� said Cardilicchia.
The Rebels offence hasn鈥檛 been prolific, sitting third with 437 total passing yards after two games, behind Langley鈥檚 630 yards and Fraser Valley鈥檚 593; and also third in rushing yards with 270 behind the Sun鈥檚 349 and Vancouver Island Raiders鈥� 333. But Westshore鈥檚 offence has been edgily effective in crucial moments down the stretch, making the big plays when needed. Anybody can score against low-ranked defences, but it鈥檚 better to be good when it matters, which is what Westshore鈥檚 offence has been. Still, they are just itching to open up the throttle a bit more.
Starting QB Mason Brown his hitting at a 56 per cent completion rate, but that鈥檚 against two very good defences. And Brown is the team鈥檚 leading rusher with 118 yards, just ahead of running back Khaliel James鈥� 114.
鈥淲e haven鈥檛 hit our full stride yet on offence,鈥� said Cardilicchia.
Today looks to be the day for that, no matter the admonishments about not looking on the Broncos as a soft opportunity to pad stats.
The Raiders, meanwhile, host Langley today at 2:30 p.m. at Caledonia Park in Nanaimo in a battle of 1-1 teams. The Sun (1-0-1) are in Chilliwack to play the Valley Huskers (1-1).
