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The Westshore Rebels received an A for effort, but it still came up as an L in the win-loss column in sa国际传媒 Football Conference play at Westhills Stadium on Saturday night. But only by the slightest of margins.
Down 14-0 early on key miscues, the Rebels battled back to give the Vancouver Island Raiders a game, eventually succumbing 23-21 to fall to 0-2 on the season. The Raiders improve to 2-0.
For flashes, it looked like the Rebels were about to snap a losing streak to the Raiders that dates back to 2004 when the organization first moved from Victoria. The Rebels have never defeated V.I.
The opportunity was there inside two minutes remaining but Jordan Worth鈥檚 15-yard field goal attempt was blocked, killing an incredible rally in front of more than 800 screaming fans.
鈥淲e're getting better,鈥� said Rebels head coach J.C. Boice, whose team was thumped 78-7 last week in Kelowna. 鈥淥ur kids are responding. My system takes a while to get going offensively. Defensively, I鈥檓 extremely proud of our effort. The kids kept us in the game. On special teams, we have a lot of work to do, that cost us.鈥�
Three too-many-men calls on punt returns killed opportunities and led to two Raiders鈥� scores.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 on me,鈥� said Boice. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to have to get more involved in stuff. It was tough to lose 鈥� we鈥檙e finding out we鈥檙e a tough football team, the way we came back this week.鈥�
There was no arguing that on this night.
Nathan Berg had two touchdowns for the Raiders, who led 23-12 at the half. Quarterback Brody Taylor had the other and they also managed a safety touch.
Westshore cut the lead to 14-12 in the second quarter.
Rebels quarterback Ashton MacKinnon threw three touchdown passes, two to former starting QB Hunter Lake, who moved to receiver to utilize his athleticism. The third went to Eric Wiliams. Westshore also had a safety as the Rebs outscored the Raiders 9-0 in the second half.
