The battle of Abbotsford ended early on Friday.
Abbotsford battled cross-town rivals the Robert Bateman Timberwolves and took advantage of several Bateman mistakes to build a big lead.
The Panthers went up 14-0 after just over four minutes and cruised to a 41-14 win.
“I thought we played consistent football for four quarters today, which we’re always looking for,” said Panthers head coach Jay Fujimura. “Offensively we wanted to see if we could run the ball more this week and we did. And defensively I thought we were much tighter today than we were at the start of the season.”
Bateman fumbled on their first drive of the game, giving the Panthers good field position and Chase Claypool caught a touchdown 2:11 into the game. Reese Morrison then grabbed an interception on the Wolves second drive and Claypool scored another touchdown. Claypool added another touchdown off a broken play before the end of the first half.
Timberwolves coach Dan Village said the mistakes cost his team.
“The first five minutes was a rough go,” he said. “We really put ourselves in a hole early but we ended up battling and the second half was a lot better.”
Bateman trailed 28-0 at the half, but then got on the board against the Panthers when Anthony Bodger rumbled in for a touchdown. Charlie May also scored for the Wolves.
Claypool added another touchdown in the second half and the Panthers also got a major from Tanner Marquardt,
Abbotsford improves to a perfect 3-0 with the win, while the Wolves drop to 0-3. The Panthers battle Chilliwack’s G.W. Graham next week in Abbotsford for first place in the AA, while the Timberwolves battle for their playoff lives against Rick Hansen.
In other AA action, the Rick Hansen Hurricanes lost 58-0 to Mission on Friday.
In AAA action, the W.J. Mouat Hawks won their second straight, beating the Mt. Boucherie Bears 56-20 on Saturday.
Quarterback Noah Dietrich threw for 252 yards and three touchdowns and running back Dion Pellerin scored three rushing touchdowns for the big win.
For more on the Hawks game and more details from the other games, read Wednesday’s print edition of the Abbotsford News.
