The Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers have their first regular season win.
The Senior AAA high school football team knocked off the Rutland Voodoos 35-6 Friday afternoon at Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary, holding the Kelowna-area team scoreless until the fourth quarter.
The Panthers are now 1-1 (won-lost) in the Eastern Conference of the BC High School Football Association.
“Our defense played very well against Rutland not allowing a first down until the fourth quarter when we were up by 35 points,” said Tweedsmuir head coach Kurt Thornton.
Caleb Abraham rushed for 160 yards and one touchdown for the Panthers, with Colton Zayshley running for 107 yards and one major scored.
Christian MacMillan threw touchdown passes of 25 yards to K.J. Johnson and four yards to Jeff Godard.
Alex Bachmeier returned an interception 25 yards for the fifth Tweedsmuir touchdown.
Abraham and Hayden Hamilton led the defense with nine tackles each. Hamilton also had a quarterback sack.
The Panthers travel to Coquitlam to face the Centennial Centaurs tomorrow (Friday) night, and won’t be be taking their 0-3 opponents lightly.
“This week we face some really fast, talented athletes from Centennial and we will have to be very disciplined in our systems and limit turnovers to be successful,” said Thornton. “We are looking forward to the challenge.”
– Two Surrey schools clashed in the opening game of the BC High School Football Association’s Senior AA season Saturday at Frank Hurt Secondary. The Holy Cross Crusaders fell 19-18 to the Frank Hurt Hornets in a Southern Conference contest.
“I’m disappointed that we lost a close one,” said Crusaders head coach Conrad Deugau. “The team played well but we as a team made some mental mistakes that hurt us.”
Two young players were the leaders for Holy Cross. Paolo Lujan, a Grade 10 wide receiver/defensive back, returned an interception 40 yards for one score and caught a touchdown pass from Patrick Shoemay.
Shoemay, a Grade 11 quarterback, ran for the third Holy Cross touchdown.
The Crusaders will host the Seaquam Seahawks in their second of four regular season games Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Holy Cross Secondary. The Seahawks dropped their first game, a 22-7 decision, at home to the Hugh Boyd Trojans.
“We look forward to playing them,” said Deugau. “We’ve had a good rivalry the past few years often trading wins.
“The teams are pretty evenly matched. It should be a good game.”
