Sometimes you have to win ugly – and that’s just what the South Delta Sun Devils did on Saturday at Dennison Park in Tsawwassen.
The senior boys overcame several turnovers, two punt return touchdowns called back due to penalties and other miscues to defeat the Mt. Boucherie Bears from West Kelowna 17-14 in the teams’ regular season opener.
“You don’t like to question the officials on penalties, but on those two punt returns, I would,” said head coach Ray Moon. “There was also a pass interference penalty that was questionable as well. You have to live with the cards that you are dealt, but overall, we didn’t execute to our potential. I think the kids possibly took these guys lightly…they look a lot different on film. A win is a win, but this is what I call an ugly win.”
South Delta went 2-1 in their three exhibition games – a 10-9 win over Kelowna and a 42-0 win over Handsworth, with a 28-7 loss to GW Graham from Chilliwack.
Overall, Moon said he was pleased with the pre-season, but emphasized that the team has a lot of work to do if they want to compete for a provincial championship come November.
“If we play like this next week, I don’t think we will have the same result,” he said. “Our defence was okay, but we still gave up two long drives and two touchdowns. Our punt return looked great, but two of those called back. We have to clean that up. Defensively, we were pretty good stuffing their run game. Our front seven played pretty good, but a work in progress as they say.
South Delta opened the scoring in the first quarter as Morgan MacCubbin hauled in a 50-yard touchdown pass from Dominic Dumas.
Kicker Diego Alatorre booted a 22-yard field goal in the second quarter and South Delta was up 10-0 at the half.
The second half opened with a solid drive from the Bears capped by a 58-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 10-7.
Ryan Roberts, who impressed all day for the Sun Devils, ran one in from three yards out early in the fourth to restore the 10-point advantage.
The Bears responded with a late touchdown and almost converted on an onside kick with seconds to play.
Dumas finished the day completing seven passes on 15 attempts for 77 yards, one TD pass and one interception.
Roberts rushed for a game-high 147 yards and one TD, while Darius Hanna rushed for 39 yards including a big 26-yard run.
MacCubbin led all receivers with 53 yards and one TD.
The Sun Devils hit the road for three straight weeks – this Friday, Oct. 6 against St. Thomas More, Oct. 13 against New West and Oct. 20 against Centennial.
Their next home game is Saturday, Oct. 28 against Terry Fox, set for a 1:30 p.m. kick-off at Dennison.
