For the second time in the past three years, the Howe Sound Sounders football club is heading to the Tier 2 finals.
The Sounders qualified for the Ackles Cup game with a 20-8 win over the Timberline Timberwolves in Campbell River on Saturday (Nov. 2).
The game was littered with turnovers, as Timberline lost the ball eight times and Howe Sound turned it over five times. The main difference was that the Sounders defence took advantage of those turnovers.
Sounders defensive player Jonathan Hamill had a huge game, with a pick six for 38 yards in the third quarter and also a fumble recovery for another touchdown. Rolan Mendoza scored Howe Sound's other touchdown as he reached the end zone on a 42-yard pass from quarterback Scott Messier.
This was truly a defensive game, Coach Jim Errington wrote in an email. We held them twice inside the 10 yard line not only stopping them but driving them back. They also held us three times inside the 20. The ball moved up and down the field because of turnovers everybody was clawing at that ball and there were a lot of offensive plays resulting in negative yards.
Both teams were held to less than 150 yards of offence on the afternoon and only seven points were scored in the second half.
On the other side of the bracket, the Moscrop Panthers destroyed Eric Hamber 52-0. The Panthers and the Sounders will now battle it out in the Tier 2 finals.
The two teams met in 麻豆社国产on Sept. 28, with the Panthers defeating the Sounders 38-0. Moscrop has not lost a game all season and has outscoring its opponents by an average of 42-7 this year.
Sounders coach Vincent Fecteau said the Sounders need to hang on to the ball and put points on the board if they want to beat Moscrop. He said Howe Sound's defence will not make it easy for the Panthers to maintain their average.
It's no secret that we're not favoured but I don't believe we are the same team Moscrop shut out a month ago, Fecteau said.
The championship game takes place in Burnaby on Friday (Nov. 8) at 6 p.m. For more information, visit www.bchighschoolfootball.com.
