WESTSHORE聽 32
OKANAGAN聽 21
Forget about second-half resiliency 鈥� the Westshore Rebels won the 2016 sa国际传媒 Football Conference championship by dominating the first half before a packed Westhills Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Rebels built up a 32-0 lead and walked off with a 32-21 win over the defending-champion Okanagan Sun. This one was never in doubt as the locals recorded their second-ever title, adding to the 2003 championship.
They will face the winner of today鈥檚 Prairie Football Conference championship between the Calgary Colts and the defending national champion, Saskatoon Hilltops. That bowl game will also be held at Westhills Stadium on Nov. 12, a first for Victoria.
On Saturday it was complete domination, especially from the massive Rebels offensive line as the team recorded 323 yards rushing on the afternoon, 181 of them from the league鈥檚 outstanding offensive player, Jamel Lyles.
Quarterback Ashton MacKinnon also had a big day, running for just under 90 yards and passing for 173, including three touchdowns. He was named the offensive most valuable player of the game. Westshore鈥檚 Juslain Makambo was the defensive MVP.
In total, the Rebels amassed 475 yards of offence against what was the best defence in the BCFC.
鈥淚t was all the hard work we put in all season,鈥� said delighted Rebels offensive lineman Aarmin Purewal. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been called a second-half team and we came here today in the first half and dominated.
鈥淲e鈥檝e worked our butts off this off-season and this is the result,鈥� said Purewal, who was part of last year鈥檚 2-8 team that finished 8-1-1 in 2016 and closed the deal with the title. 鈥淭his is an amazing feeling. I can鈥檛 describe it, here in front of my hometown, with the hometown crowd. It just feels amazing.鈥�
Lyles opened the scoring on a 55-yard drive that involved seven total run plays, capped by his 14-yard score 8:00 into the game. Kyle Clarke鈥檚 12-yard field goal made it 10-0 at 12:33.
Mackinnon hooked up with Tyvon Blake for a 39-yard pass and run score at 3:42 of the second quarter and added a second strike through the air, this time from 10 yards out to Birhanu Yitna as the Rebels led 25-0 at the half.
Mackinnon鈥檚 third touchdown pass was a 12-yarder to Trey Campbell just 3:06 into the second half before the Sun scored 21 straight points as Keith Zyla replaced Foster Martens at quarterback for the second half. This one was virtually done early in the third quarter, however.
鈥淲e were just really in rhythm in the first half,鈥� said Rebels鈥� head coach J.C. Boice. 鈥淭hese kids came out and played an outstanding first half of football and responded well. The defence as well, and I鈥檓 just incredibly proud of these kids. We鈥檙e Cullen Cup champs, going from 2-8 last year.鈥�
The defence created seven turnovers, three interceptions, two fumbles and two on downs.
The Canadian Bowl will be an interesting matchup either way. Should the Rebels play the Colts, the BCFC champs will be facing coach Matt Blokker, who led the Rebels to their only title in 2003 and built a dynasty with the Vancouver Island Raiders. Should it be the Hilltops, it will be a rematch of the 2003 Canadian Bowl in which the Rebels were hammered 59-0.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to enjoy tonight and tomorrow we鈥檙e going to get ready for whoever is coming to us because we鈥檙e going to win a national title,鈥� Boice said.
