Both the peewee and atom Cowichan Bulldogs football teams picked up big wins at McAdam Park last Saturday.
Coming off two straight losses, the peewees kept their playoff hopes alive with a 14-8 win over the Victoria Spartans, while the atoms handed Nanaimo Seahawks White their first loss of the year in a dominant 24-8 effort.
“After back-to-back losses this was a very important game for us to win, and continue our goal of reaching the playoffs in the top four on the Island,” peewee coach Trystan Ryder said. “Our coaching staff couldn’t be happier with the effort from each and every member of this team.”
Led by cornerback Kasen Randhawa, the Cowichan defence contained the Spartans’ outside game, forcing them to run up the middle, while safety Kalem Thomas had three consecutive tackles in the first quarter and snagged his first interception of the season. Linebackers Aylin Canning and Landen Laver shut things down whenever the Spartans tried to run inside the tackles, and Drake Thomas had a monster outing, stuffing holes at the line of scrimmage.
On offence, quarterback Domenic Reeves completed eight passes, including two to Rhys McKelvie for first downs, which allowed fullback Adam Troy to pound the ball up the middle as the Victoria defence dropped back. Troy also caught a pair of passes for big yards, and Cole Tokarek hauled in a nice catch of his own. Speedy tailback Mica Kendrick picked up big yards on the ground and caught passes out of the backfield.
The Cowichan offensive line was a force again, as always, opening up holes for the backs and giving Reeves time and space to complete passes.
“It is tough to single out a single individual from our O line, as they all played an outstanding game,” Ryder said.
The peewee Bulldogs will visit Nanaimo White this weekend, with fourth place and the final playoff spot on the line.
The atom Bulldogs got a huge showing from their defence as they held the league’s No. 2 offence to a single touchdown. (Cowichan just happens to be the top-scoring team.)
Rylen Heyer led the Cowichan defence with three solo tackles and two assists, while Harrison (Solo) Plaxton had two solo tackles and four assists. The defensive line made life miserable for Nanaimo’s offensive line, led by Marcus Jeet and Zac Dzhevelekyan with four assisted tackles each.
Gus Steeves was the standout once again for the Cowichan offence, rushing for 264 yards and four touchdowns, and completing passes to Vaughn Williams and Pearse Molleken. Williams finished with 26 yards on five carries and six receiving yards, and Plaxton also had 26 yards on seven carries. The Bulldogs opened the scoring on a 49-yard touchdown run by Steeves, then fell behind when Nanaimo scored on a long run of their own and kicked the convert. Cowichan regained the lead soon after and never looked back.
“I am very impressed with the improvement of the team each week and I would like to give a big thanks to the players and the coaching staff for all their hard work,” atom head coach Opie Williams said.
The atom Bulldogs will close out the regular season this weekend on the road against Nanaimo Blue.