Ex Valley Husker bench boss Howie Zaron is picking his old squad to finish last in the six-team B.C. Football Conference standings this season.
The league asked Zaron to make his predictions with the 2017 campaign set to start Saturday.
Zaron coached the Huskers from 2006 to 2009.
Picking them to be in the basement isn’t unreasonable, given the team has gone 1-29 the last three seasons, and Zaron delivered the sentence with a spoonful of sugar.
“I think Chilliwack will be the best last-place team the BCFC has seen in a while,” he said. “I think this will be the best coached team the Huskers have had since they were awarded a franchise.”
Zaron also said fans should keep an eye on first-year running back Keenan Vicklund. The Robert Bateman grad is getting buzz in training camp and may provide the Huskers with the running game they’ve been missing.
Zaron picked Kamloops to finish fifth, saying the high-octane Bronco offence won’t be enough to make up for a bad defence.
Zaron is picking Langley to finish first, although he says there’s little to choose between the Rams, Okanagan Sun and Westshore Rebels.
“The Rams have a lot of good returning players and this is the first time in probably four years I was at a Rams spring camp where I can say that looks like a really good football team,” he noted. “But I think those teams are all real close.
“We could easily have three teams with identical records when it’s over and the third place team coming out of the conference.”
Zaron consigns the once mighty Vancouver Island Raiders football mediocrity, not bad enough to be a cellar dweller but irrelevant in the championship chase.
The Huskers are in Kamloops Saturday for a 6 p.m. kickoff at Hillside Stadium.
See bcfootballconference.com.
