A dominating second half performance in Kamloops has the South Delta Sun Devils headed to the high school football quarter-finals and earning another crack at the province's second ranked team.
The Sun Devils will meet the Mission Roadrunners on Saturday (5: 30 p.m.) at UBC's Thunderbird Stadium after rolling to a 3312 opening round win over the Kalamalka Lakers last Friday.
The Roadrunners had little trouble in their first playoff tilt on Saturday, pounding Duchess Park 50-24 at B.C. Place Stadium. They also defeated South Delta 33-6 in exhibition back in late September.
It adds up to the Sun Devils being a substantial underdog and that's fine according to head coach Ray Moon.
"That (game) was a long time ago when we had a young team that was just getting their feet wet," said Moon. "They are a very talented team but I'm confident we can do more than just compete if we bring our 'A' game.
"I like the idea nobody is giving us a chance. We lost some very close games this year and played in a very competitive division where they never really were challenged."
South Delta got off to a tremendous start in Kamloops, scoring touchdowns in its first two possessions. However, its opponent from Vernon didn't roll over and battled back to within a single point (13-12) by halftime. The Devils answered with three unanswered majors to take control of the game by the midway point of the fourth quarter.
"We basically got complacent and allowed them to get back in the game," added Moon. "We had the opportunity where they could have been down and out and instead they were pumped up going into halftime. I just told the boys that was not the way they have been taught to play football and they better go out and play to their ability."
A balanced attack saw quarterback Kyle Menzies throw for nearly 200 yards with Cody Taylor being his favourite target.
The defence was praised for its efforts in containing running back Marek Splawinski who averaged over 100 yards per game and was among the final cuts for Team B.C. this summer.
