It was billed as the Great Coquitlam Shootout. Only the Terry Fox Ravens brought butter fingers instead of bullets.
Centennial Centaurs, on the other hand, utilized plenty of weapons and blasted their way to a 29-0 triumph on frigid Friday night at Percy Perry Stadium over their heated Tri-City rivals in the inaugural Carey Lapa Cup (formerly Coquitlam Cup), named after the former Fox assistant coach who died last January of a sudden heart attack at age 51.
The Centaurs controlled play from start to finish in the B.C. AAA senior high school football league clash, limiting the Ravens to a meagre six offensive series the entire game and forcing Fox into committing five turnovers -- two interceptions, one lost fumble and two failed fourth-down gambles.
"We knew going in we had to control the clock and the ball and that's what we did," said an emotional Centaurs head coach Ryk Piche, who, ironically, was coached by Lapa during his playing days at Centennial. "You could see Fox getting more and more deflated the longer we had the ball. I'm proud of our guys... we physically manhandled them."
The result left both squads with 2-3 marks to wrap up the Eastern Conference regular season and in a three-way tie for third with Cloverdale's Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers in the six-team division. The Ravens, who entered Friday's tilt polled No. 5 among in the province, now meet the No. 2 W.J. Mouat Hawks of Abbotsford in the first round of playoffs at 8 p.m. Friday at BC Place Stadium, where a good portion of the post-season returns after renovations and the Winter Olympics forced BC High School Football to shift venues the last few campaigns. The Cents square off against the New Westminster Hyacks, also under the dome, at 5 p.m. Saturday.
The No. 1 St. Thomas More Knights of Burnaby, the No. 3 Vancouver College Fighting Irish, the No. 4 Mt. Douglas Rams of Victoria and the Kelowna Owls all earned opening-round byes.
Cents' 230-pound fullback Lucas Naso barrelled his way for a team-high 116 rushing yards on 21 carries as Centennial took a page out of the Fox playbook by busting for 256 yards on the ground on 45 carries for a handsome 5.6 per-carry average.
The Ravens, on the other hand, were fortunate simply to cross the line of scrimmage, for the most part. "We didn't come to play," groused Fox co-head coach Tom Kudaba, whose team won a 21-20 overtime thriller last weekend over Tweedsmuir. "Maybe the kids were resting on their laurels after last week's win.
"The good thing is that in the playoffs, everyone starts at 0-0."
Grade 11's Justin Buren, doing a remarkable impression of his long-injured brother Jason Buren, scored three touchdowns, including runs of two and four yards and an interception return of 30 yards. But it was Naso -- primarily a blocking back for Jason Buren and Nehemie Kankolongo since he started playing senior his Grade 10 year -- who led the Cents' yardage charge up the gut.
"Jason was a big loss for us this year so we eventually had to change up our [offensive] scheme a bit," Naso told The Tri-City News. "I always got the ball in our old offence but I always wanted it more. Blocking all the time is a tough job. I know what our offensive linemen go through.
"We have many good players who are basically unheard of and a very good line. I think we'll be tough in the playoffs."
Middle linebacker Michael Spencer rallied the Cents' defence with nine solo tackles and nose tackle Michael Couture was "overpowering," Piche said.
