The South Delta Sun Devils are jumping right into the teeth of their schedule when they kick off the B.C. High School Football season on Friday afternoon.
For the first time in recent memory, the Sun Devils will play a key Western AAA Conference game right out of the gate against perennial powerhouse Mt. Doug in Victoria. It will then be another road game against Carson Graham before the home season opener Sept. 29 when defending B.C. champion New West Hyacks come to Tsawwassen.
A pre-season game in Kelowna was cancelled due to the air quality from the raging forest fires in the Interior. So it’s been two weeks of a training camp environment preparing a young team for what’s certain to be a challenging month.
“The plus side is (Mt. Doug) hasn’t had an exhibition game either,” chuckled veteran head coach Ray Moon. “Is it concerning? Yeah, because we’re still trying to get everything going and identifying who is going to be working at certain positions. Usually exhibition games are beneficial for that. Now we are going to have to do it on the fly during the game.”
South Delta’s program has enjoyed an outstanding run in recent years, highlighted by its first-ever B.C. AAA title in 2014. A talented and now graduated 2000-born group suffered heartbreaking semi-final losses to the eventual champions the past two seasons.
Only six players are back from the 2017 squad and the roster of 23 leaves not a lot of room for injuries. Yet, there are still plenty of athletic and dynamic players that could have the Sun Devils in the title hunt again.
Grade 11 quarterback Ben McDonald is part of a terrific athletic family that has played a huge part in the Sun Devils recent success.
Older brothers Jack and Grant had leading roles on the championship team and their father Bruce is now the team’s defensive coordinator. Ben has all the tools to be among the best in the province in remarkably his fourth-year with the team. He showcased his versatility a year ago as the Devils’ leading receiver in the regular season and playoffs, ranking fourth in B.C.
“He is one of the pillars on this team. Just the fact he has been here since Grade 8 that he knows what is going on and is comfortable with it,” Moon continued. “He knows what it’s going to take to get the job done. (Running back) Andrew (Kraft) as well. They will do everything in their power to do that and lead the team.
Kraft along with promising Grade 11s Ethan Troniak, Evan Paterson and Rhys Porteous gives longtime offensive coordinator Mark McDonald plenty of weapons to work with.
Ultimately, the Sun Devils success will depend on how well their re-built interior lines stand-up. Centre Riley Gookstetter is the lone returnee on the offensive side where Moon says 6-foot 290-pound exchange student Aaron Wong will be among the starters. He added the defensive scheme will be trying to utilize quickness over size.
“It’s going to be about giving Ben enough time to find his targets or basically runnning plays that can’t line-up and square him up.
“We are going to change things up a bit on defence and probably be a bit more aggressive than we have been in the past. This is mainly a run oriented conference and we will need to be quick to control the line of scrimmage.”
End Zone…
SDSS alumni and now teacher Scott Martens has taken over the Junior Varsity head coaching duties. The Devils are coming off a terrific inaugural season that included a deep post-season run. He will have a 28-player roster and 12 of those will also be providing depth for the senior team as well. The JV Sun Devils open their pre-season schedule Thursday in New West.
