Don’t be fooled by a pre-season game in September. That’s the message the South Delta Sun Devils coaching staff are trying to get through to their players heading into the opening round of the B.C. High School Football playoffs.
South Delta will begin play on Friday night (7:30 p.m.) against the Mission Roadrunners at Burnaby Lakes Sports Complex. The Sun Devils rolled to a 35-0 victory back on Sept. 16 but plenty has happened since.
They are licking their wounds after two straight losses that knocked them down to third place in the final Western AAA Conference standings, including a 63-16 shellacking to the top ranked New West Hyacks last Friday night at a chilly Mercer Stadium. The Roadrunners finished sixth in the Eastern AAA Conference with a 2-5 record but are coming off a spirited 21-7 loss to No. 2 ranked St. Thomas More in their regular season finale.
“That game was a long time ago and we can’t afford to be looking past anybody the way our last two games have gone,” said Sun Devils head coach Ray Moon. “We need to be playing like we were earlier in this season or this could be one and done.”
Coming off a tough eight-point loss to Seaquam, it got much worse in a hurry against a New West team that was determined to show why it’s been ranked no worse than No. 2 all season and won the junior provincial championship two years earlier.
The Hyacks’ potent ground attack shredded through the Sun Devils defence to the tune of over 550 yards of total offence — led by a 182-yard performance from running back Sammy Sidhu. Receiver Sebastien Reid was also utilized in the back field for touchdown runs of 33 and 56 yards. New West managed 29 points in the first quarter alone and took a 43-16 lead into the half.
Moon was hardly pleased with the number of missed tackles against Seaquam. It was even worse seven days later despite it being the focal point of practice for much of the week.
“The easiest way is just to get back to the basics but it’s a bit of a catch 22 situation where you can only do so much at practice to avoid contact and potential injuries,” added Moon. “We focused on proper technique and drills on the bags but it didn’t do a whole lot of good.
“The kids are upset right now and know they can do better than how they have been playing. We all need to do a little self-examination right now and that includes me and the other coaches as well.”
Moon added his team would want nothing more than another shot at New West and to bring its best game to B.C. Place Stadium this time. That could happen with the Hyacks on the same side of the playoff bracket but Mission and potentially Lord Tweedsmuir are standing in their way.
The offence needs to start firing on all cylinders too. The Devils were contained to just 180 total yards as quarterback Michael Calvert received a steady douse of blitzing for much of the night.
End Zone…
Sun Devils Junior Varsity team will take on St. Thomas More in its first-ever provincial playoff game on Thursday at McLeod Stadium in Langley. South Delta finished on top of its conference after a 46-18 win over Nanaimo last week.
