Protect your house. It sounds simple enough, especially for the Westshore Rebels, who are 7-0 this season in the friendly confines of Westhills Stadium.
But the sa国际传媒 Football Conference champions will face their stiffest test yet when the two-time defending national champion Saskatoon Hilltops line up today at 1 p.m. in the Canadian Bowl 鈥� the first time ever to be played in Victoria.
The Hilltops have won 18 overall national titles, including five of the last six, and feature an offence that hammered the Okanagan Sun 58-2 in a cross-over game earlier this year.
The Rebels defeated the Sun 32-21 in the BCFC championship game just two weeks ago at Westhills.
They face a tougher game today, but it comes in front of their own fans.
Westshore鈥檚 offence will have to control the clock, sustain long drives and keep its own defence off the field as much as possible, like it did in the first half against Okanagan.
The defence did create eight turnovers in that Cullen Cup win 鈥� just the organization鈥檚 second to go with the 2003 crown 鈥� but the Hilltops have more weapons and are led by a quarterback, in Jared Andreychuk, who is looking for his fourth Canadian Bowl victory and is 8-0 in playoffs.
That means nothing to Rebels associate head coach and defensive co-ordinator Shane Beatty.
鈥淲e will win. We will,鈥� he added when asked if the Rebels believed they could pull this off for the home crowd. 鈥淲e鈥檙e ready to go. They put their socks on the same way we do. They put their pants on the same way we do.
鈥淚 will say this, we match up size-wise real well and we鈥檙e fast. We just have to stop 21 [running back Logan Fischer] and then we鈥檒l see what they do.鈥�
It鈥檚 that size factor that has the Rebels excited and to a man, at a pre-game new conference Friday, that was the intangible they hammered home.
鈥淲e match up real well size wise against these kids, especially inside on the interior with James Bradley and Jeremie Drouin, and having Julio [Makambo] back at full speed is really nice,鈥� said Beatty. 鈥淥bviously, they are the favourites, but we鈥檙e really going to relish the underdog role. We鈥檙e going to come out fast and physical.鈥�
They will have to be good against Andreychuk as well when he goes to the air, one weakness the Rebels had, although that was shored up in the BCFC final.
鈥淲e just have to play the way we know we can play,鈥� said defensive lineman Kent Hicks, who can be a power as well. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think [Andreychuk] has seen a defence like ours. I think size wise, they鈥檙e not used to as big a front, on both sides of the ball. It鈥檚 going to be a smash-mouth-football type game, for sure.鈥�
Offensively, the Rebels will continue to hammer running backs Jamel Lyles and Trey Campbell behind that line, and quarterback Ashton Mackinnon can hurt you both ways, via the run or pass.
It will still come down to who wins the battle of the line of scrimmage.
鈥淭heir record means nothing. Nobody has played against a team like our type of team. We showed it this year in the BCFC and I鈥檓 not worried about no records they have,鈥� said Hicks, adding fuel to the fire.
The Rebels want to finish what they started, rebounding from a 2-8 campaign last year to a 10-1-1 log, including playoffs in 2016. And, most of all, they want to do it for their fans.
鈥淭his place has become a tough place to play and our players thrive on that,鈥� said Rebels head coach J.C. Boice, who was named CJFL coach of the year late Friday, while Lyles claimed offensive player of the year honours. 鈥淲e are 7-0 here. We鈥檙e good on turf and we鈥檙e really good on Victoria turf, so it鈥檚 a huge advantage for us.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have to travel and that was a lucky break in that the West had the chance to host. I think we鈥檙e going to do everything we can to seize this opportunity.鈥�
The Hilltops did surrendered 31 points to the Calgary Colts in a 43-31 Prairie Football Conference final in which they also gave up 468 yards in net offence. But they also have the experience of being in this situation before and did beat Beatty鈥檚 defence in last year鈥檚 Canadian Bowl when he was with Okanagan.
鈥淭here鈥檚 an uncomfortableness about what鈥檚 in front of us, but ultimately we鈥檝e put ourselves in different environments,鈥� Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant said of facing the home team. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a veteran crew that knows what they need to do. The 60 minutes between the lines, that will make the biggest difference and that鈥檚 where our focus needs to be.鈥�
