A dramatic fourth quarter comeback is taking the South Delta Sun Devils junior varsity football team’s inaugural season to the provincial quarter-finals.
The Sun Devils produced a pair of majors in the late going to upset the St. Thomas More Knights 14-10. They will now face the Notre Dame Jugglers on Thursday in Burnaby.
As a first-year team, South Delta was eased into the “AAA” junior varsity schedule by being placed in the Coastal “AAA” Conference. A 4-1 record gave the Devils first place honours but the playoffs, that now included established JV programs, was expected to be a much greater challenge.
The Knights opened up a 10-0 first half lead and nursed that into the late going when the Devils came to life thanks to a little input from the players.
Quarterback Ben McDonald hooked up with Evan Paterson on a long touchdown pass and South Delta had life.
“Ben and Evan saw how their corner was over committing. Sure enough, he bit on the hitch pass when Ben pumped it and Evan went deep,” said head coach Ray Moon.
Now within a field goal, STM drove down to the Devils’ 35-yard-line before turning the ball over on downs.
With a 1:50 remaining and in a hurry-up offence, South Delta marched into Knights territory before turning to some trickery for the winning score.
McDonald hit Luke Thodos on a curl route and he immediately lateraled to Rhys Porteous who raced to the end zone. The hook and ladder play covered 35 yards.
It was another courageous performance by a Devils team that typically dresses no more than 16 players and features what Moon describes as “six core athletes.” McDonald was coming off an injury and saw limited action — sharing the quarterback duties with Hunter Norman.
“STM had some big lineman and a size advantage but our kids just stuck their nose in there and never quit," added Moon.
The team also includes: Ethan Troniak, Spencer Yesowick, Adam Hoegg, Bennett Stoilen, Jackson Bailie, Aiden White, Stig Aronsson, Waylon Andersen, Brett Hauser, Marius Niveri, Youssef Sheta, Skyler Welch, Cailean Ouellette, Nathaniel De La Rosa and Jack Wardell.
