Heading into Saturday’s BC Secondary Schools Football Association AAA quarter-final game against Seaquam (5 p.m. at BC Place), the Terry Fox Ravens are no longer riding the coattails of last year’s championship squad.
And there’s no telling how far their growing confidence can take them, said Ravens’ head coach Martin McDonnell.
Before the season, McDonnell said his team’s no. 1 ranking was largely a holdover from last year’s victory over Notre Dame in the Subway Bowl championship. But 16 players from that team had graduated and the young Grade 10 and 11 players stepping into their places on the roster had yet to prove themselves.
For the first three weeks of the season they did just that, defeating Mt. Douglas, WJ Mouat and Kelowna and retaining their status atop the province’s football rankings.
It all seemed a little too good to be true.
The reality check came in a 15-8 loss to the mighty St. Thomas More Knights, who had wracked up 157 points, while allowing none, in their four wins prior to that Friday night showdown at rainy Percy Perry Stadium in Coquitlam.
The Knights have continued to win, while the shortcomings of McDonnell’s cobbled lineup were exposed by injuries to key veterans like quarterback Jevaun Jacobsen and running back Jaden Severy. The Ravens handily beat lesser teams like Mission and Centennial but they were shutout 17-0 by Lord Tweedsmuir en route to a third-place finish in the Eastern Conference.
In last Friday’s wild card playoff, the Ravens trailed Belmont 16-7 but rallied to score 31 straight points and a 37-16 win. More importantly, McDonnell said, his team showed the kind of fight and determination that will serve them well against Seaquam.
“This is a resilient group,” McDonnell said. “We’ve had to face adversity this year.”
On Saturday, they’ll be confronted by a big-play offence powered by the Philpot twins, Tyson and Jalen, who led the Seahawks to five wins and two losses in the school’s first season at the AAA level after it won last year’s AA championship.
“They’re not going to dazzle you, you’ll know what’s coming,” McDonnell said “You just have to stop it.”
One way to achieve that will be for the Ravens to hang onto the ball as long as possible.
That’s more likley with the return last week of Jacobsen and the anticipated return of Severy this week from a hamstring injury. The emergence out of the backfield of Cade Cote, who rushed for 242 yards on 22 carries against the Bulldogs, also adds another dimension to the Fox offence.
“It’s a nice luxury to have,” McDonnell said.
Especially in a season of tempered expectations.
“I think we’ve done well,” McDonnell said. “I’m definitely not writing off this year.”
