The JV Sun Devils started conference play with a 21-20 loss to Lord Tweedsmuir at Dennison Park on Oct. 3.
After knocking off Lord Tweedsmuir in last year’s playoff semifinals, South Delta knew it would be a tough contest.
The Sun Devils controlled the game early with a quick stop on defence and a nice drive on offence capped by a TD pass from Easton Geisbrecht to Ty MacGregor.
Tweedsmuir responded tying the score on a 25-yard TD run, but South Delta answered with a solid drive ending with a TD on a quarterback sneak by Quinn Kirincic.
After a lengthy delay and calling halftime early, the game was restarted at the tail end of the second quarter.
Tweedsmuir finished the quarter with a TD to tie the game.
The third quarter was a stalemate, as yards were tough to come by, but Tweedsmuir did punch one in to take the lead.
South Delta was down by a score but put together a last-minute drive scoring a TD on a run from Kirincic with 20 seconds to play.
The Sun Devils had to go for two as a player on their kicking team was injured earlier in the game. South Delta failed to convert and lost by a point.
The Sun Devils host Holy Cross on Wednesday at 3:15 at Dennison hoping to even their conference record at 1-1.
Senior varsity
The senior varsity Sun Devils came out on the wrong end of a 31-10 loss at Vancouver College on Saturday afternoon.
But the final score was not indicative of the overall game. A few late mistakes had a game that was well within reach for the Sun Devils look lopsided for the Fighting Irish.
Both teams managed just a field goal in the first half, and it was 3-3 at halftime.
South Delta received the second half kick-off and put together its best offensive drive of the day capped off with a Damian Dumas touchdown.
Dumas ended the day with 130 yards rushing and 60 yards receiving.
The Fighting Irish answered the touchdown, but a blocked extra point kept South Delta up 10-9.
Early in the fourth, a few South Delta errors swung the momentum heavily in the Fighting Irish’s direction.
An error by the punter, and two fumbles resulted in three Van College touchdowns.
Dominic Dumas had 140 yards passing, and eight tackles on defence.
Brother Damian had nine tackles on defence to go with his offensive numbers.
Other defensive standouts included Gage Spargo with eight tackles, Tommy Cowan with six tackles and Alex Taylor with five tackles.
The Sun Devils are 1-1 in conference play as they head to Belmont on Friday afternoon.
Their next home game is Oct. 19 with a 1:30 p.m. kickoff against Carson Graham.