The West Kelowna Wildcats grounded the Vernon Magnums 44-38 in Southern Interior Atom Football League play Sunday at Greater Vernon Athletics Park.
The Magnums went into halftime down 30-19 but had a big rush in the second half and outscored the Wildcats 19-14.
Cornerback Ryker Insull-Ashworth pushed the West Kelowna running backs further off the line. The Magnum offence had many chances.
Payton Carr started at defensive linemen for most of the second half, doing an amazing job blasting through the gap, according to Magnums head coach Tyler Swanson.
“I couldn’t have been more proud of how far Carr has come this year.”
In Junior Bantam play Sunday on the Okanagan College turf, the Magnums lost 53-26 to the West Kelowna Tiger-Cats.
Skyler Broughton scored a TD and was the rushing leader for Vernon, gaining 105 yards on the day, 40 of which came due to a crucial block thrown by receiver Dominick Kitzman.
Damon Froste was the next big playmaker rushing for 98 yards, 34 of which came from a decisive block delivered by Josh DeGelder. Kian Zabihi racked up 68 yards and scored two TDs, followed by Chase Whitfield with 75 rushing yards, including a 55-yard kick return for a TD.
Jaxsyn Whitfield rounded out the scoring with a pair of two-point converts.
“Our O-line of Griffin Morrier, Sabon Schiehl and John Pielecki blocked very well today, and allowed our QB Brayden Khunkhun to audible his own number for 65 crucial rushing yards,” said offensive line coach Darryl Broughton.
On defence, Jaxsyn Whitfield was the standout with nine tackles, three knock downs and one interception. Froste pocketed eight tackles and a sack, followed by Tyson McKay with six tackles and Darius Cardinal with five.
“The boys played very hard,” said Vernon head coach Ron Kirschner. “We made a couple of mental errors that allowed West Kelowna to steal the momentum late in the third quarter but our guys never gave up and showed a lot of heart right until the very end of the game.”
