V.I. Raiders shut out opponent in home opener

This week, the Raiders didn’t come close to giving up their lead.

The V.I. Raiders were big winners in their B.C. Football Conference home opener Saturday at Caledonia Park, shutting out the Kamloops Broncos 42-0.

Nanaimo had been upset by the Chilliwack Huskers the week before on the road, so V.I. coach Doug Hocking said it was nice to see his team get back on track and also play well overall.

“Right after last week, we were dying to get back on the field and get back to business,” Hocking said. “We had a great week of practice and it carried over into today’s game. You could just see right from the opening kickoff, we were very focused.”

Matt Hill, Raiders defensive lineman, said the team was “100 per cent focused” all week and raring to go on Saturday.

Hill said the Raiders played “very well” and said the shutout on defence is something that’s always a goal for the team.

Quarterback Jake Laberge threw two touchdown passes to North Rainey and was picked off once. Rhett Williams had two rushing touchdowns and Jason Henderson also scored a rushing TD. Nanaimo’s other major came late in the fourth quarter, a 15-yard pick six from Jérémie Cheng.

Laberge finished 12-for-19 passing for 160 yards. Williams had 14 carries for 107 yards and Mike West made five catches.

On defence, Todd Campbell had four tackles.

For the Broncos, QB Rylan Matters was 11-for-27 for 130 yards. On D, Mixon Madland had four tackles, a sack and a forced fumble. Andrew Baerg and Logan Fields also had sacks and Kaden Cook intercepted a pass.

Notably, Kamloops had problems in the punting game and so placekicker Landon Munk attempted three field goals from deep in Broncos territory.

After two weeks, the Raiders have seen what leads to losing and winning in the B.C. Football Conference, and will keep trying to learn and improve.

“It’s just a matter of building week to week, that’s the main thing, just getting better every week,” Hill said.

Hocking said the team will go over Saturday’s game film and be “super critical” in its analysis.

“We’ll reinforce the positive and we’ll work on our mistakes,” the coach said. “There’s still lots of mistakes out there we need to fix.”

Here are a couple more photos from today's B.C. Football Conference game at Nanaimo's Caledonia Park. Raiders 42, Broncos 0. @ViRaiders pic.twitter.com/X0lVsUWv17

— Greg Sakaki (@BulletinSports) August 12, 2018