It was a dominating defensive effort from the Okanagan Sun on Saturday night as the Sun D frustrated, punished and ultimately shut-out the Kamloops Broncos 31-0 behind five sacks and five interceptions.
The stifling defines led the Sun to its fifth win of the season, improving to 5-and-0 and first place in the BCFC.
“I thought we did a great job; we executed our assignments,” said Sun head coach Ben Macualey. “Our defines was all over the place. They bailed the offence out when the offence struggled to start the game. They just put their foot down and ended the game, destroying all hope for Kamloops (in the second half).”
After a defensive battle for most of the first half, the Sun got a seven yard touchdown run from Kasey Russell and a 13 yard field goal from Kealey Heintz and led 10-0 at the half.
The offence came to life in the second half as quarterback Foster Martens found Pierre Luc Lord for an 11 yard touchdown pass and Russell scored his second major in the third quarter.
Beck Fullerton put the exclamation point on the game with a 72 yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Fullerton and Conor Richard each had two interceptions while Raquille Cespedes got his second of the season.
Broncos’ quarterback Colby Henkel was under pressure all night as Elias Rodriguez and Jonas Gering led the charge with a sack and a half each.
Martens finished the game 17 of 23 for 217 yards and threw his third touchdown of the season, and Keith Zylas was 3 of 7 for 38 yards.
In all the Sun gathered 434 yards of total offence, but committed 15 penalties.
“We believe we can win with this team,” said Macauley. “We have the talent to do it and the guys are starting to gel. It hasn’t been easy to get there. There have been some bumps and hiccups but as long as all the guys and the coaches are taking accountability, players can respect that.”
Two interceptions by Fullerton earned him the BCFC Defensive Player of the Week nod. His second pick saw him sprint 72 yards to the endzone and he also had a pair of tackles at the Apple Bowl.This is the second straight week a member of the Sun defence has been named a Player of the Week after Layne Hull got the nod last week.
The Sun (5-0) now hit the road for a first place showdown with the Langley Rams (4-1) on Saturday night at 7:00pm. They don’t return home until Saturday September 17 when they make history and host the Saskatoon Hilltops.
