Morning Star Staff
Vernon Panthers’ offensive lineman Jackson Ponipal was on a high Friday night in Kamloops.
However, it wasn’t because the Cats were recently named the No. 1 ranked team in senior AA varsity football by the Vancouver Province.
The elation came after he recovered a blocked punt near the end of the first half and scampered into the end zone for the only touchdown of his high school career.
Ponipal was one of five Panthers to score in the first half as the Cats grounded the Westsyde Blue Wave 49-9 in Interior Conference Football action.
Bradley Hladik started the scoring parade on a six-yard reverse. However, on the ensuing drive, two errant snaps resulted in Westsyde scoring two points on a safety.
“We didn’t start out the way I would have liked,” said Panther head coach Sean Smith. “Our snaps were poor and we took a lot of penalties which killed us. Once we got that out of our system, we were fine.”
For the second week in a row, VSS moved the ball on the ground. Riley Bos went over the century mark for the third straight time gaining 115 yards on 12 carries.
The grade 10 combination of Charles Lemay (three carries for 96 yards and one TD) and Kael Black (seven touches for 40 yards) racked up another 136 yards.
“It was nice to be able to run the ball effectively again.,” said Smith. “We had six different rushers and averaged over 10 yards per carry (289 yards rushing on 28 carries). Our O-line is really coming around. Jakob Barnett stepped in at guard due to injury and did a great job today.”
With the ground game humming, the Panthers relied less on quarterback Thomas Hyett’s arm. The Grade 10 pivot went an efficient 4-of-6 for 94 yards, including a 21-yarder to all-world tight end Ben Hladik.
“I really like that we are becoming a take-what-they-give- you offence. If they stack the box to stop the run, we are able to move it through the air. If they want to shut down our passing attack, we are able to keep it on the ground. That kind of balance is key if we want to win a playoff game.”
Defensively, Ben Hladik led all tacklers with five to go along with a fumble recovery while defensive end Josh Hyer had a pick six from his defensive end spot.
The Panthers (6-1 overall, 3-0 league) are assured the Interior Conference’s’ No. 1 seed going into playoffs and close out the regular season versus the Valleyview Vikings of Kamloops Friday (4 p.m.) on the college turf.
“Getting the No. 1 seed was a big deal for us as the first round bye might give us enough time to get some injured and banged up players back to full strength.”
