It took a full team effort for the Cowichan Bulldogs to upset the top-seeded Victoria Renegades in the Vancouver Island junior bantam championship game last Saturday, although one player ended up accounting for all of the team’s scoring.
Nico Harris ran for three touchdowns, including a 55-yard punt return, and earned game MVP honours as the Bulldogs beat the Renegades 20-13 at Ladysmith’s Forrest Field.
Running backs Davin Reithaug and Dillon Wilson also had big performances for Cowichan, pounding their way through the Victoria defence to keep the ball moving behind the blocking of linemen Isaac Keepence, Liam Moore, Sebastian Tait, Brad MacCrae, Eric Guo, Eamon Manley and Rylan Rowe, while Cody Wilson directed the offence from the quarterback position.
“I said it before, and I’ll say it again: we are at the top of our game at this point of the season,” Cowichan head coach Ted Harris said. “I was 100 per cent confident that the way we have been playing in the past couple weeks that we would reign supreme in the end. When we were down, the boys didn’t panic. Four quarters is a lot of time to play football. We kept our heads in it and played our best game of the year.”
The Cowichan defence had answers for the Renegades both on the ground and in the air. Feisty defensive back Aiden Muth played what coach Harris called “the best game of his football career so far,” highlighted by huge tackles against running backs twice his size. Reithaug sealed the victory by picking off Victoria’s last pass attempt.
“This was our best team effort this fall season and culminated our hard work and perseverance,” Harris said. “It was a sweet, sweet victory. These boys gave it their all.”
The Bulldogs will travel to Kamloops this Friday to compete for the provincial nine-man junior bantam championship.