It has often been said that familiarity breeds contempt.
If that’s holds true in junior football, don’t expect any pleasantries to be wasted when the Okanagan Sun visit the Vancouver Island Raiders later this month in Nanaimo.
After butting heads three previous times already in 2012, the longtime rivals will battle one final time on the weekend of Oct. 20 in the B.C. Football Conference semifinal.
“We have to return to the rock in two weeks,” said Sun head coach Gavin Lake, whose club lost two nail-biters in Nanaimo this season, 30-29 and 32-30. “The first two have been good battles. We’ll be looking forward to going back there for another shot.”
Combined with Westshore’s win over fifth-place Kamloops Saturday, the Sun (3-6) secured the fourth and final playoff spot in the BCFC Saturday with a 36-0 victory over the winless Chilliwack Huskers (0-9).
In a game where the result was a foregone conclusion even before the opening kick off, Lake said it was a challenge for his players to maintain a steady level of intensity from start to finish.
“You don’t like to think that way, you really have to try and go 100 per cent, no matter who you’re playing, to prevent injuries. Having said that, it’s hard to get dialed up when you’re playing a team that’s struggling like Chilliwack.”
The Sun will close out the regular season Saturday at the Apple Bowl with their third meeting of the season against the Langley Rams (6-2-1). Kick-off is 2 p.m.
