Trying to win football games and getting many kids ready to play as possible.
Those are the challenges ahead for the program at South Delta Secondary where a record number of players have come out for the 2022 season, which gets underway this Friday for the senior varsity team when the Handsworth Royals visit Tsawwassen at 2 p.m.
The Sun Devils opened their training camp last week with their traditional back-to-back late afternoon practices. Typically, attendance for these sessions can be hit and miss between summer jobs and families away on holidays before the start of the school year. However, there were enough players last Wednesday (Aug. 24) for head coach Ray Moon, offensive coordinator Jerry Mulliss and linebackers coach Mike Emery to run three separate groups.
Down on the South Park field, there were even larger numbers as JV head coach Scott Martens begins the process of preparing his team for its season opener on Sept. 8 against Carson Graham.
The big turnout doesn’t come as a surprise after more than a 100 combined players came out for spring camp, a week-long refresher and introductory program, back in May. That number even caught the coaches off guard.
“We had to be creative just to come up with enough gear. We were basically looking for stuff everywhere,” said Moon.
Now it’s up to him and his assistants to see if the bigger roster translates into success at the highly competitive Varsity AAA level.
A shake-up of the conferences over the off-season has done the Sun Devils no favours. They still find themselves with perennial powerhouses Mt. Doug, Vancouver College and Notre Dame. Carson Graham and Belmont round out the conference.
Cross-town rival Seaquam is now part of the Central Conference but the Seahawks’ Mayor’s Cup rivalry game with South Delta, slated for Oct. 1 at John Oliver, will still count towards the regular season standings.
New West is another traditional rival that also shuffled to the Central Conference. The Sun Devils will conclude their pre-season schedule with a Sept. 23 visit to Mercer Stadium with the Bill Kushnir Bronze Boot on the line.
