The weather on Howe Sound鈥檚 football field was ugly Saturday afternoon, but that was just fine with Sounder head coach Jim Errington.
In fact, he didn鈥檛 even really notice the heavy rain and admits his team, which often opts to run the ball, is well suited to the slop.
鈥淲e鈥檙e definitely a mudder team,鈥� he said.
Of course, the mud brings its own challenges in the form of hanging on to the ball and on Saturday the Sounders had their share of trouble. Then again, so did the visiting Wolves from Timberline Secondary in Campbell River, as each team fumbled regularly throughout the game.
In fact, the Sounders鈥� offence opened the scoring on the first drive off of a busted play deep in the Timberline zone when Ray Belandres recovered a fumble in the end zone to put Howe Sound on the scoreboard. The team added a two-point conversion to take an 8-0 lead.
In the second quarter, running back Lukas Nering broke loose and scored a major to put the home side up, while Alex Domingo rushed for the two-point convert.
It was just part of another huge day for Nering on the stat sheet, as he rushed 243 yards on 17 carries and added another eight yards from a pass.
Often, he was able to break free taking pitch-outs from quarterback Michael Lane on option plays.
Even if the game wasn鈥檛 pretty, the Sounders found some luck.
鈥淲e did get some breaks on recovering our fumbles,鈥� Errington said.
The team even managed to generate a touchdown from a blocked punt by Adam Klimchuk-Brown that Nering recovered and ran into the end zone.
In the end, the Sounders were able to double up their visitors, winning 44-22. They racked up 332 yards, mostly on the ground, with Nering scoring three touchdowns, and Belandres and Domingo each scoring one. Nering added two conversions, while Domingo and Lane each had one.
Defensively, Howe Sound was strong, other than on special team coverage in which it gave up TD runs to Timberline of 70 and 72 yards. When the Wolves were on offence though, they stumbled, mustering up only one solid drive upfield to add another touchdown. In all, the Wolves could only generate 147 yards while they had the ball.
Nering also led on the defensive side, with nine tackles, but there were other strong performances. As an example, Errington pointed to lineman George Lewis, who rang up five tackles.
鈥淗e鈥檚 actually not our biggest guy, but he looks like he is,鈥� he said.
Jake Lanter added four tackles, Lewis recovered a fumble while Scott Friestadt had an interception.
Again, the weather played into the hands of the Sounders, as Timberline usually tends to mix a lot of passing plays into their offence, but opted for mostly running plays in the wet conditions.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e normally a really balanced team,鈥� Errington said.
The Sounders hit the road this Saturday for a game against Spectrum on the Saanich Peninsula, though the Howe Sound coach is not sure what to expect from the opponents, as they could provide a challenge, having just come off a win over a Triple A team.
鈥淚鈥檓 not sure what鈥檚 coming ahead of us,鈥� he said.
For now, the win over Timberline catapults the Sounders from fourth to second in the Tier II varsity standings.
