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September 9th, 2023 Langford, BC (ISN) – The Valley Huskers would throw the book at the high-flying Rebels, bringing out their bag of tricks with the hopes of catching the league leaders off guard , but it was not enough to stop Westshore from extending their BC Football Conference undefeated streak to 6-0 with a 54-21 win on Saturday afternoon at Starlight Stadium in Langford, BC.
For a second consecutive game, the Rebels would wait until the fourth quarter to look for heroics to close the door on their opponent. In a Rebels penalty-laden first twenty minutes of the second half, the Huskers would make a move to compete, keeping the Rebels offense off the field, but the Rebels would re-find their discipline to explode for 21 points in the last 12 min of play to record the win.
The Rebels, so far this season, have dominated the league with 322 points scored, which is 100 points more than their closest rival in the Okanagan Sun. The Westshore defensive team, arguably perhaps one of the best in the country, has held their opponents to a game average 14.2 points per game in their first six contests to complement their offensive side of the ball.
Starting Rebels quarterback Te Jessie would engineer another fabulous performance, would throw for 276 yards on 18/24 passing and four touchdowns. Running back Gerren Hardisty, and receiver Cairo Berry seemed to be the flavour of the game for Jessie. Both would score a pair of touchdowns, Hardisty doing on the ground with 154 yard running, his longest a 69 yards scamper out of the backfield against the Husker defense. Berry would haul in his pair of majors on the arm of Jessie with an efficient 3 receptions for a mere 43 yards.
Receiver CJ Vincent would lead all receivers in the game with 121 yards gained on 4 receptions for a mind-boggling average of 30 yards per catch, and a touchdown in the victory. Running back Malik Gagne-Smith and receiver Zion Brown would also add a touchdown each to round out the seven TD Westshore performance.
The Westshore Rebels defense was instrumental in setting the pace in the first half, before giving way to some undisciplined play in the first 20 minutes out of the locker room at half time that would give the Valley Huskers some hope of an upset, comeback win. The Huskers would take advantage of the Rebels pause to score with a pair of touchdowns to threaten. With 11:45 minutes remaining the Huskers would be down a palpable 12 points with a 33-21 score.
That pair of Valley Huskers would be enough to scare the Rebel defense straight and turn aside any further advance from the Valley team. Linebacker Demar Hohnstein would prove a game factor again with seven tackles and 2.5 quarterback sacks. Rebels Feranmi Okunlola would challenge Hohnsteins performance with his own seven tackles and one interception to bolster the defense. The Rebels would tally a head-shaking 9 quarterback sacks in a three-quarter statement.
With ball in hand, the Rebels would go on a 21-point, fourth quarter scoring blitz, taking their last two touchdowns to the house within the last 1:40 minutes left in the game to deflate the Chilliwack team, sending them home with the loss and a 4-2 record.
The Rebels, with four games remaining, will play the VI Raiders next at home Saturday, September 16th under the lights before taking a bye week to reenergize. The Rebels will then return to the road to face the Kamloops Broncos. Both the Broncos and the Raiders share the cellar in the standings in the BCFC, still to record a win.
**** Of Rebels note:
- Te Jessie takes back the passing lead over Huskers chucker Tyran Duval with 1260 yards completed, 21 touchdowns (nearest other – Rams Trey Jones’ 10 TDs), and a 71.2 percent completion average.
- LB Demar Hohnstein leads the BCFC with 46 tackles in 6 games
- Reciever Keiran Poissant leads the league in receiving yards (439), second in TD’s (6) only to teammate Cairo Berry’s BCFC leading 8 TD’s
- Cairo Berry leads the league in punt return yards with 261, his longest punt return is tops with a 112 yard return
