The South Delta Sun Devils nearly made it a sweep of their rivalry games as they now turn their attention to the opening round of the B.C. High School Football playoffs.
After collecting the inaugural Delta Bowl two weeks earlier with a victory over the Seaquam Seahawks, the Sun Devils closed our regular season play Saturday with a hard-fought 14-12 loss to the New West Hyacks in the annual battle for the Bill Kushnir Bronze Boot. The game is in tribute to the former longtime teacher and principal who founded the football programs at both schools.
The defeat left South Delta, Belmont and St. Thomas More in a three-way log jam in the Western AAA Conference with 2-5 records. A tiebreaker formula, that takes into account head-to-head games and point differential, gave the Devils fifth place to set up a round of 16 playoff date with the Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers on Friday (1:30 p.m.) in Cloverdale.
Tweedsmuir finished third in the Eastern Conference, however, a battle-tested South Delta team has a good chance at advancing as long as the entire offensive playbook can be utilized.
That certainly wasn’t the case on Saturday and it wasn’t just the wet conditions and sloppy SDSS oval field that slowed the hosts down.
Quarterback Kenny Scott injured both his shoulders in a loss to No. 1 ranked Vancouver College on Oct. 30 that significantly hampered his throwing ability, so much so, that offensive coordinator Jerry Mullis reverted to a wildcat formation for much of the afternoon with standout running back Jesse Mitran taking about 80 percent of the snaps.
The game plan almost worked. Mitran rushed for 157 yards on 26 carries and he gave his team an early 6-0 lead. However, the Hyacks took advantage of a second quarter fumble recovery to jump in front 7-6, then executed an onside kick to promptly score again.
A one-yard fourth quarter run by Scott made it 14-12. The Devils failed to add the two-point convert and their final possession ended with an interception near midfield.
A 37-yard toss from Scott to Declan Dunn was the Devils’ lone completion of the afternoon.
“With Kenny hurting both of his shoulders, we were not certain how long he would even last today,” said head coach Ray Moon, of the revised game plan. “It was definitely working early on. They had only four offensive plays in the first quarter and we were still holding our own in the second (until the fumble).
“In the end, it was quite the battle and we still had a reasonable chance to win today. We were just hoping at the end to get into field goal range as (Declan) has been hitting from 35 to 40 yards in practice.”
Joshua Cloete led an impressive defensive effort with eight tackles. Ryder Gordon Carmichael chipped in with six.
End Zone…
The junior varsity Sun Devils will also face Tweedsmuir in their opening round playoff game on Thursday in Cloverdale. South Delta concluded regular season play with a 22-20 win over Belmont to finish with a 2-2 conference record.
