South Delta Sun Devils hopes of advancing in the B.C. high school football playoffs were run over on a chilly night at UBC's Thunderbird Stadium.
The Sun Devils had no answer for one of the most potent running attacks in the province as the second ranked Mission Roadrunners cruised to a 37-8 victory on Saturday. The Fraser Valley powerhouse racked up over 400 yards along the ground, led by the backfield tandem of Jesse Forcier and Brendan Atkinson. Forcier finished the evening with 242 yards on 26 carries, while Atkinson added 176 more on just 12 attempts.
South Delta entered the tilt as a significant underdog but believed it could be much more competitive than the previous meeting back in September when the Roadrunners won 33-6 in Tsawwassen. However, Mission wasted little time in establishing the line of scrimmage, promptly scoring on its opening possession, a 22-yard run by Forcier.
The Roadrunners went on to build up a 21-0 lead by halftime and were in cruise control the rest of the way. The Devils managed to avoid the shutout when quarterback Kyle Menzies connected with David Mann from 17-yards out with less than a minute remaining.
Mission added another 111 yards through the air including a dagger-like 22-yard touchdown pass on a fourth and long situation in the second quarter.
"We thought we came in with a pretty good game plan but it didn't take long to realize we had no answer for their running attack," sighed Sun Devils head coach Ray Moon. "We tried five different formations, along with some blitzing and stunting but nothing seemed to work. I guess that's what happens when you are going up against an offensive line that averages 260 pounds.
"One of our strong points is our pass coverage and they even managed to have some success against that as well."
The only way the Devils were able to counter Mission's significant size advantage was moving lineman Austin Pearson and Travis McDonald into the backfield. Pearson ripped off several long runs in the second quarter but the Roadrunners eventually made the necessary adjustments and shut the door before South Delta could find the end zone.
With a roster that will feature the majority of his players returning in 2012, Moon hopes the result will at least serve notice of just how high the benchmark is to be provincial contending team.
"These players get to the point of their careers where they have gone through football (to the Bantam community level) and that's all they know," he said. Now they have found out the differences from the intensity level to knowing your assignments. Even getting the idea of the off-field commitment it takes to succeed."
End zone.... Among Moon's off-season duties will be trying to convince the B.C. high school football executive his program should remain at the AA level in 2012. South Delta secondary Grade 11 and 12 boys enrollment currently stands at 301, one above the classification threshold that separates AAA and AA programs.
Moon should have a strong argument with SDSS attracting additional students with its hockey and soccer academies that have zero impact on the football program. However, what isn't working in the Sun Devils favour is the AAA level losing two teams next season - Earl Marriott and Carson Graham.
