Ray Moon didn't even bother watching last Saturday's B.C. High School Football "AAA" championship game. It would have just been another painful reminder of where he thought his team should have been.
A heartbreaking one-point semi-final loss was still resonating a week later with the veteran head coach of the South Delta Sun Devils. The Terry Fox Ravens not only ended the Devils' campaign but went on to win the championship thanks to an overtime win over the Notre Dame Jugglers.
South Delta is expected to be very competitive in 2017 as well but Moon looks at the past two seasons as a lost opportunity. The Devils won their first-ever "AAA" title in 2014 and had a number of key returning pieces plus a talented 2000 class on the way up.
They began the 2015 campaign as a preseason No. 1 in the provincial rankings but never did live up to the hype, bowing to Terry Fox in the provincial quarter-finals. This past season, the team was steamrolling in the stretch run before coming up just short against the Ravens.
"This year and last year I thought we had a real good chance, especially when you look at the kind of depth we had on the lines," said Moon, who has now guided the SDSS program for 15 seasons. "It's been a real good mix but for a number of reasons, including injuries, we just couldn't get it done. It's frustrating."
South Delta should have about a dozen returning starters next fall. The majority of them are at the skill positions, including quarterbacks Michael Calvert and Ben McDonald, along with receivers Billy Matwichyna, Doug Jameson, Morgan Wolsey and Max Stalling.
However, the Devils face a complete rebuild on their offensive line with only centre Ethan Prasad coming back. It means for the first time in about four years, the coaching staff will be looking for more players to go both ways. Greydon Welch and Morgan Brumby are offensive lineman candidates after only playing defence for much of this season. Defensive end Andrew Kraft is also pencilled in as the team's starting running back with Grant McDonald and Stef Goulas both graduating.
"Our numbers will be okay but we won't be the deepest team," continued Moon. "When you look at two starting tackles (David Edwards and Justin Smith) they were both third-year guys with a ton of experience. That's tough to replace. We are going to need kids to step up."
Moon touts the Mt. Doug Rams as the 2017 Western AAA Conference favourite. The Victoria powerhouse brings back the majority of its starters including standout quarterback Gideone Kremler who was sidelined for much of the second half of this season with a knee injury.
