It wasn’t pretty, but it the bottom line is it was a victory.
Those are the feelings of head coach Ted Kirby, following the Langley Rams 36-28 victory on Saturday at Nanaimo’s Caledonia Park over the Vancouver Island (V.I.) Raiders in B.C. Junior Football Conference action.
It was the Raiders’ first home regular season loss since 2005.
“Sometimes you have to win ugly in games, and we were able to do that,” Kirby said.
“But it was still a win.”
The win improved Langley to 3-0 on the season while the Raiders fell to 1-2.
Quarterback Jahlani Gilbert-Knorren ran for three scores and tossed another two, with Malcolm Williams and Dan English on the receiving end.
After a slow opening quarter that saw the Rams trailing 3-2, Langley took the lead at the half, 15-6 and then stretched that to 22-6 at the half. The teams then combined for 36 points in the final 15 minutes.
And unlike the week before when Langley committed 18 penalties and had three touchdowns negated by flags, the Rams cut that in half with 10 flags for 70 yards.
What the team needs to correct now is limiting the opposition’s big plays, Kirby said.
“Near the end, we were able to make some adjustments and that helped us get the win.”
The defence came up with three turnovers, including one interception in the end zone by Ben Sharpe and then another by Tanner Hamade with a minute to go and the Raiders going for the tying touchdown.
Nathan de Rappard-Scott had the fumble recovery.
The defence also came up with three sacks, one apiece from de Rappard-Scott, Arie Nakagawa and Evan Foster.
On offence, Kyle Albertini led the rushing attack with 70 yards, while Gilbert-Knorren ran for 65 and threw for another 274 on 16-of-25 passing.
Williams was his leading target, catching seven passes for 149 yards.
The Rams are in Victoria on Saturday when they face the Westshore Rebels.
