After snoozing through the last nine quarters of football with just one solitary touchdown, the Okanagan Sun offense awoke in a big way on Sunday afternoon at the Apple Bowl.
The Sun exploded for six majors en route to a 44-24 drubbing of the Langley Rams in a battle to decide second place in the BCFC .
The win ended the Sun’s (7-3) three-game losing streak and secured home field advantage for the BCFC semifinal against Rams (6-4) in two weeks time.
For the Sun, the win made amends for three disappointing and ego-bruising weeks of football, including a 58-2 pasting at the hands of the Saskatoon Hilltops on Sept. 17.
“It was huge to get that monkey off our back, we had lost our mojo a little bit, we had some emotional letdowns the last few weeks,” said Sun head coach Ben Macauley. “It was good to be on the other side of that this time.”
Quarterback Foster Martens and Lliam Wishart connected on touchdown passes of 11 and 49 yards for the Sun who led 16-3 at the half and 30-3 after three quarters.
In his third BCFC game since joining the Sun from the camp of the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals, former CIS all-Canadian Rashaun Simonise scored his first CJFL major on a 58-yard pass from Martens in the fourth quarter.
Running back Kelti Kouri scored his first BCFC touchdown on a 15-yard run in the first quarter.
Linebacker Layne, with his first offensive major, and Shamar Donelson, on passes from Keith Zyla, also scored touchdowns for the Sun.
Macauley said with the talent his team possesses, the outburst was long overdue.
“We’ve got playmakers and it was about time we turned catches and first downs into touchdowns,” he said. “That’s something we’ve been missing most of the season, so when guys like Rashaun and Shamar get going and their confidence is up, they’re going to turn those plays.”
The Rams will return to Kelowna for the opening round of the playoffs on Sunday, Oct. 16.
The other BCFC semifinal will feature the Westshore Rebels at home to the Vancouver Island Raiders.
