Next stop is B.C. Place Stadium and a provincial quarter-final playoff date for the Hugh Boyd Trojans.
Richmond’s only high school football team clinched first place in the Western AA Conference with a dominating 34-8 win over the John Barsby Bulldogs last Friday in Nanaimo. That earns the Trojans an opening round bye and a final eight match-up against the winner of Argyle/ NVSS (Vanderhoof) on the Nov. 18-19 weekend. Boyd are two victories away from playing for its first-ever provincial title at the senior level.
“It’s an exciting for our program to be in this position,” said Boyd head coach Bill Haddow. “The kids have worked hard for this and we are far from done yet. We will be doing some short and crisp practices this week then get a little advanced scouting in before getting ready for the quarter-finals.”
The Trojans took a 4-1 record to the Island against the 1-4 Bulldogs who have been typically a powerhouse team over the years. However, Boyd’s confidence was shaken a week earlier in a stunning 68-42 home field loss to Ballenas. Adding to the concerns were starting linemen Dylan Roach (concussion) and Kamron Porbeni (foot) unavailable.
The Trojans dealt with the potential adversity in prompt fashion, scoring on their opening two possessions and forcing the Bulldogs to punt as well. Grade 12 running back Reace Mok led the way with four touchdowns. Tariq Lopez had the other score.
Grade 10 John Whitlock and Arun Sandhu did stellar jobs filling in for the injured starters, joining Kyle Lambert, Nikos Lazarakis and Dayton Williamson on Boyd’s dominating defensive line. Josh Roshan, Lopez and Coleton Forrester also thrived at linebacker.
“It was an interesting week of practice,” admitted Haddow. “We had to have a few heart-to-heart discussions and show some tough love too. The kids manned up and took their medicine. My brother (defensive coordinator Bruce Haddow) was in the hot seat as well after the game. We all took the blame for that performance and moved on.”
Ironically, a potential rematch with Ballenas looms in the semi-finals. The Parksville school must get through Holy Cross and Vernon to reach the final four.
