The receiving position in football is often about making adjustments.
Joe Barkhouse made a huge one last weekend for the Westshore Rebels with an out-of-this-world diving catch that is making its rounds on YouTube.
Teammate Talyn Davies continues to make his own, switching from the quarterbacking position to receiver in his first year as a Rebel.
Davies and Hunter Lake each caught nine passes last week for 130 and 183 yards, respectively, as quarterback Ashton MacKinnon had a heyday, earning sa国际传媒 Football Conference offensive player-of-the-week honours with his 29 of 38 completions performance for 427 passing yards with three touchdowns.
That offence needs to keep the Langley Rams defence busy today at 4 p.m. at McLeod Stadium.
Barkhouse鈥檚 grab was the buzz this week, as he flew horizontally to snare MacKinnon鈥檚 TD pass, laying his body completely out.
鈥淚t was just a scramble drill, really,鈥� he said of grabbing MacKinnon鈥檚 pass off his roll out. 鈥淚 usually have a spot route on that particular play. I saw him rolling out, rolled out with him and made a good play, solid catch. I was able to hang on.
鈥淚 thought I was open before that, but when he was rolling out it took his momentum away. Throwing on the run is hard. I kept going and made the play. I was lucky to hold on. Any time you can make a catch like that it fires up the team and hopefully we continue to get better.鈥�
The play ignited a spark in the home crowd as well as the team.
鈥淓veryone was giving me high-fives,鈥� said Barkhouse, 22, who did see the catch on YouTube later in the week. 鈥淥ur media guy, Jason Sperling, did a good job getting it out there.鈥�
Barkhouse had three catches for 40 yards with two of them as major scores.
Davies, meanwhile, continues to settle in at the new position.
鈥淐an I lay out like Joe Barkhouse? No,鈥� Davies, 18, said with a chuckle when posed the lighthearted question. 鈥淭hat kid is a freak athlete. He鈥檚 a really talented guy, but if you give me a ball, I鈥檒l definitely make an effort for it.鈥�
The Bev Facey High School product, in Sherwood Park, Alta., is straight out of secondary school and adapting to the higher level of football.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a bit of a change from what I鈥檓 used to, but I鈥檓 really enjoying it. The offensive scheme that coach [J.C.] Boice runs really pushes vertical. We鈥檙e able to take advantage of a defence,鈥� said Davies, who enjoyed a strong game catching the ball and then replaced MacKinnon at QB later on.
鈥淚n that game I just happened to be in open spots and Ash hit me with it,鈥� added Davies, who then completed three of six passes for 72 yards.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a big adjustment,鈥� coach Boice said of the change in position. 鈥淏eing a quarterback definitely helps him because he really understands the game deeper than most positions require. It鈥檚 a different skill set and, still, if anything happens to Ashton, he鈥檚 getting called back to duty real fast.鈥�
Obviously, it will be a much greater challenge today as the 1-3 Rebels face the Rams, who are not likely pleased with their 2-2 record.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to get challenged,鈥� said Boice. 鈥淚鈥檓 curious to see how our kids respond. I believe we鈥檙e getting tougher and learning how to approach these games. We have not travelled well at all and I鈥檓 nervous about that. But I also believe in these kids. They鈥檙e as hungry as they were in Day 1.鈥�
He knows that the Rams and Nathan Lund will attempt to run on what has been, at times, a leaky rush defence.
鈥淚f I was them I would run the ball every play and they can. They鈥檙e physical up front. The keys of the game will be whether we can slow the run down and whether the offence can sustain drives and be explosive,鈥� said Boice. 鈥淲e need to put points on the board.鈥�
POINT AFTER: Former Rebels runningback Greg Morris was signed to the Edmonton Eskimos practice roster this week. The Toronto native was the BCFC rookie of the year in 2011. He later went on to New Mexico Military Institute and in 10 games recorded 151 carries for 995 yards with seven TDs, 11 receptions for 153 yards with one TD and three kick returns for 53 yards.
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