When he was handed the keys to the South Delta Sun Devils offence in the fall of 2011, all Kyle Menzies could think of was the playbook he suddenly had to know from front to back.
"I felt so much pressure on myself," he recalled.
"How was I going to do quarterback and high school (work) at the same time?"
Fifteen months later, the extra workload has turned out just fine.
The 5-foot-7 field general concluded his high school career in spectacular fashion Saturday at B.C. Place Stadium, throwing for 262 yards and rushing for 82 more in the Sun Devils 31-14 win over the Mission Roadrunners to win the provincial "AA" championship.
Menzies was a running back growing up in the South Delta Rams community program.
His teammate David Mann took the snaps under centre through to the Bantam age level. That changed when the Sun Devils wanted a more mobile quarterback behind an inexperienced offensive line. The Sun Devils' 2001 season ended ironically with a 37-8 quarter-final loss to Mission but the experience Menzies gained was invaluable.
He finished this season with 33 touchdown passes and was named to the provincial all-star.
His favourite target happened to be Mann who has developed into a top university prospect as a slotback.
The position switched couldn't have worked out better for either of them.
"Last year was just a big opportunity for me to learn the offence," said Menzies. "I had a chance to develop and took a lot of it into this season. We've all worked really hard for this (championship)."
His threat to run the ball was evident throughout the playoffs and the Sun Devils made full use of it in the championship game, calling several quarterback draws that led to big yardage.
"We set it up where it's his read," said head coach Ray Moon
"If they were going to attack the edges with our four receiver set then it left one linebacker in the middle. We will take Kyle against a linebacker any day of the week."
PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONS SOUTH DELTA SUN DEVILS
#2 David Mann
#5 Ryan Littlewood
#7 Jeremy Gordon-Carmichael
#8 Shane Dagg
#9 Lucas Kirk
#10 Mitch Dino
#11 Kyle Menzies
#12 Parker Dodd
#21 Danny Stanger
#22 Mark Dykstra
#23 Matt Wollin #25 Curtis Garlough
#26 Matt Gillanders
#29 Denis Olivera
#32 Will Kraynyk
#50 Rene Sencio
#52 Tim Lasher
#53 Austin Pearson
#54 Ryan Marquardt
#55 Jonathan Murphy
#60 Aaron Parker #62 Rhys Weitzel
#64 Web Johnson
#65 Chris McLauchlan
#66 Brady Rough
#68 Mitchell MacLeod
#80 John Longay
#81 Aaron Rota
#82 Jacob Johnston
#85 Dylan Steer
#88 Nick Whitty
Coaching Staff
Ray Moon (head coach)
Mark McDonald
Gary Cooper
Ray Crawford
Ron Morehouse
Rickie Singla
Rickie Singla Ron Warner
Derrick Mann
Sheldon Paris
Ray Beisick
Jamie Campbell
Ross Darrell (trainer) Joe Campbell (equipment manager)
