The Vernon Magnums were looking to finish the regular season strong in anticipation of the playoffs. Mission accomplished.
The Magnums will host the Kamloops Broncos Sunday (11 a.m.) in first-round Interior Atom Football League play after bouncing the Broncos 25-6 Sunday at Greater Vernon Athletics Park.
Vernon (6-1) put their stable of running backs to work early with four different backs rushing the ball on the opening drive which went 75 yards and was capped with a 22-yard touchdown by Josh Vandenberg, who ran through and around tacklers on his way to the end zone. QB Brock Warner added the conversion on a three-yard plunge.
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The defence has been the strength of the Magnums all year and they took control of the trenches early as Courtland Dawydiuk and Shaymus Waterstreet lived in the opposing backfield most of the game, racking up tackles for losses and forcing consecutive three and outs.
The Magnums’ offence stalled after a big play was called back on a holding penalty and followed up by compounding mistakes when a misplayed pitch led to a fumble returned for a score by Kamloops making the game 7-6.
Vernon pulled it together before the half and speedster Oliver Harkness took an end around for 55 yards to push the lead to 13-6 at the break.
The Magnums came out in the second half with intensity again and Nathan Goodfellow got his first of two fumble recoveries on the opening drive. Caden O’dwyer, Vernon’s game MVP, followed his blocks and capitalized on the turnover running up the middle for a 25-yard score and a sizeable lead.
Kamloops showed no quit as the game ticked on and mounted a drive in the fourth quarter only to be stopped in the red zone by Goodfellow’s second strip sack of the day. With the Magnums trying to keep possession and run out the clock, they leaned on Warner, who punched one more TD in to put the game out of reach.
The Atom squad will play a mini-game during half-time festivities of the big Vernon Panthers-Fulton Maroons high school tilt Friday night.
In Junior Bantam play, the Vernon Marauders finished the season with a 42-20 loss to the league-leading Salmon Arm Chargers.
Damon Froste was the MVP for the Marauders, racking up 215 yards and two TDs while contributing a blocked convert, a fumble recovery and 12 tackles on defence. Scott Hoffman dished out punishing blocks to spring his teammates, gaining 78 yards rushing, kicking a point after, and recording 11 tackles.
Elijah Warner scored on a quarterback sneak behind the solid blocking of Zack Adkins, Dylan Morris, Aiden Desmarais and Palmer Taylor.
“Salmon Arm is deservedly the top team in our league this year,” said Vernon head coach Ron Kirschner. “I am very proud of the effort that each of the boys contributed to this final game of the season.”
Defensive coach Andy Stefansson also had high praise for his boys, noting that Daniel Drysdale, Cyrus Moen, Deagan Zimmerman, Dillon Lalonde and Hayden Hardy had all made touchdown-saving tackles and fought hard until the final whistle.
The Vernon Yellow Jackets ended their season Sunday by falling 37-7 to the Salmon Arm Chargers.
Head coach Talon Hart and assistant coaches Brett Fitzpatrick, Tyler Swanson and Brett Ciccone all praised their mostly first-year team for the incredible effort they put out week after week all season long.
“It was a pleasure watching these young men learn an entirely new sport and come together as brothers and become a family to encourage each other and push one another,” said Hart. “It’s a great day for the sport when 28 strangers started this season and ended up becoming brothers tied together forever.”
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