If you ask Langley Rams head coach Khari Joseph, there are no easy games.
That said, things are going to be get a whole lot tougher for Langley’s junior football team over the next couple of weeks.
The Rams head to Nanaimo this Saturday to face the 2-2 Vancouver Island Raiders, then return home Aug. 27 to take on B.C. Football Conference (BCFC) powerhouse Okanagan Sun, who roll into this weekend’s action undefeated at 4-0.
“This is what we play the games for: to test yourself, and so we’re looking forward to the opportunity,” Joseph said. “They are going to be great games.”
And while Kelowna’s Sun will be coming to town for a showdown next weekend, Joseph said the Rams’ sole focus is the Raiders.
“You don’t look too far ahead,” he said. “It’s always tough to play in that [Caledonia] park. We have to be mentally ready and prepared if we want to go in there and win a football game.”
The Rams did their job during their past three games, by dispatching the BCFC’s still-winless squads, the Valley Huskers (twice) and Kamloops Broncos.
Their latest ‘W’ was a 41-16 victory over the Huskers Saturday at McLeod Stadium.
The win improved the Rams’ record to 3-1 while the Huskers dropped to 0-4.
Langley mixed in two impressive quarters with a pair of somewhat lackluster ones. They trailed the Huskers 2-0 after the opening quarter, before outscoring the visitors 23-6 in the second stanza to carry a 23-8 lead into the break.
The Rams only managed a field goal during the third quarter but also held the Huskers scoreless, and then had a 15-8 edge in the final quarter to win by a 25-point margin.
“For us, it was about execution,” Joseph said. “It’s good that we made a lot of field goals, but those are missed opportunities to get touchdowns. We have to be better in the red zone. It was a sloppy game with a lot of flags and that hurts the flow of the game when you’re trying to move the ball. They [the Huskers] came out with high intensity and we didn’t match their intensity [in the first quarter]. Then we settled in. While we weren’t scoring touchdowns, we were winning the field possession battle and [Langley kicker] Tiernan [Docherty] had another great day kicking the ball.”
Stephen Legare and Colby Peters split quarterbacking duties and put up 364 passing yards between them. Legare completed eight of 11 passes for 211 yards and two touchdowns. Peters was five-for-10 passing for 153 yards and a touchdown. He was also picked off once.
Ryan MacDonald, Khalik Johnson, and Seye Akinsanmi each had touchdown receptions while, on the ground, Legare plunged in for a one-yard touchdown.
Docherty was good on four of six field goal attempts, his longest from 42 yards away. He also added a single and four converts to his totals.
Defensively, rookie linebacker Bashiru Sise Odaa led the Rams with four tackles and a knockdown.
