The bantam Cowichan Valley Bulldogs earned their biggest win of the year in their last regular-season game.
With a 42-19 road win over the Comox Raiders last Sunday, the ’Dogs locked up a berth in the Vancouver Mainland Football League playoffs.
“Comox has some big kids and they have a full roster, but we did a lot of things right on Sunday,” Cowichan head coach Mike Williams said.
Running back Alex Marinakis ran past and over the Comox defence for an astonishing 302 yards and four touchdowns on just 16 carries as the team combined for 502 offensive yards.
“We have leaders, not only in statistics but also on and off the field,” Williams said. “Alex is one, along with Dakota Cullum and Evan Kwasny. On every carry, Alex has the potential to break off long runs. He can make good players miss.”
Marinakis moved past the 1,000-yard mark for the season. Cullum finished with 115 yards and one touchdown as a rusher and 60 yards and one touchdown as a receiver, while Kwasny had 10 tackles and five assists. Kilion VennRyan also had a great outing with eight tackles and one interception, and rookie Aden Nettleton also had a pick.
The Bulldogs will visit the first-place Richmond Raiders this Sunday to open the playoffs, and Williams is looking for an upset win.
“We have played them tough in both games this year,” he said. “We need to play mistake-free and near-perfect assignment football, but we have a real strong chance to beat them. I believe that this is only the semifinal, but the provincial championship will be decided on Sunday.”
The junior bantam ’Dogs also played a phenomenal team game as they beat the Nanaimo Lions 38-8 in their regular-season finale.
From the opening kickoff, the Bulldogs dominated in every facet of the game. Quarterback Jesse Kwasny had success throwing the ball to Jordan Russell and Isaiah Doughty on the outside, while Finn Shea had several bruising runs up the middle behind Gavin Kendrick, Jayden Strzok, Dillon Wilson, Trevor Eccleston and Rylan Rowe.
Strzok, Wilson and Shea led the Cowichan defence as they caused havoc for the Nanaimo offence.
“The players have worked extremely hard this year,” coach PJ Shea said. “They deserve the success that comes with that commitment. The future is very bright for our program.”
The junior bantams will open the playoffs this Friday at 7 p.m. against Oceanside in Ladysmith.
The peewee Bulldogs continued their steady improvement as they faced the Nanaimo Bombers. Special teams did an excellent job, led by the kickoff return team, which got a touchdown from Lennex Weber behind the lead wedge of Liam Moore, Sebastian Tait, Bradley MacRae, Matteo Breckenridge and Jayden Strom-Bell.
Darren Bright was named player of the game on defence after making several tackles and one solo sack, and assisting Ryder Maertz on another. Breckenridge went against a much bigger linebacker and made key blocks.
The peewee ’Dogs will finish the season this weekend as they travel to Campbell River to make up a game they missed in September.
