Officially it was a late season high school exhibition game to fulfill a bye week on their schedule.
Unofficially, it was the South Delta Sun Devils' greatest measuring stick to date of what their chances are of winning a provincial championship.
The province's third ranked "AA" team has hardly broken a sweat in racking up an unbeaten record in conference play and will be overwhelming favourites in its final two games. That's why so much more was on the line when the Devils travelled to Nanaimo last Friday to take on No. 1 ranked John Barsby Bulldogs.
South Delta came up with a superb defence performance and just enough points to return home with a huge 13-6 victory.
In the days leading up to the game, a number of players met with coaches to ensure everyone was on the same page.
"The kids knew they hadn't been overly challenged and really wanted to find out what they are worth," said head coach Ray Moon. "Yes, it was an exhibition game but they wanted to go over there and give it our best. As coaches, we felt the same way."
South Delta opened the scoring when quarterback Kyle Menzies connected with David Mann on a 76-yard touchdown play. Two more impressive drives stalled in the red zone and led to field goals of 36 and 26 yards from John Longuay and a 13-0 halftime lead.
The Bulldogs' potent running game came to life in the third quarter, driving the length of the field before Brandon Parker scored from 11-yards out. The Sun Devils fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Barsby was in business again at the 30-yard-line. They marched down to the nine where the Sun Devils came up huge, turning back the hosts on a fourth and three play.
Menzies quickly swung the field position when he connected with Mann again for another long pass play and South Delta would never look back.
"That was the game right there," said Moon of the goal line stand.
"Getting out from our own end right away was big too."
Moon, who also serves as the team's defensive coordinator, had spent a considerable amount of time coming up with a game plan to shutdown the Bulldogs' highly effective wing back offence. The Devils initially employed a 4-4 scheme but wanted to crowd the line of scrimmage even further by going to a five man defensive front with three linebackers.
"Sometimes it even looked like a 7-3 front," said Moon. "We had notice some tendencies where we not only want to take away the edge for their running backs but the cutback lanes too."
Barring any upsets, the same two teams are destined to meet again in the semi-finals of next month's provincial playoffs.
The Sun Devils play their final home game Saturday when the Holy Cross Crusaders visit South Delta secondary at 1: 30 p.m.
