The pre-atom Cowichan Bulldogs brought home Greater Victoria Minor Football's Silver Cup last Saturday with a win over the Nanaimo Bombers at Westhills Stadium.
"The boys played awesome," head coach Ted Harris said. "They really showed how their effort and improvement got them to where we wanted to be. I can't tell you how exciting it is for them to go to Westhills, play their hearts out, have a ton of fun and each bring home a medal and the Silver Cup championship trophy. They were ecstatic. They deserve the glory."
Rookies and veterans alike gave the Bulldogs their best in the battle for the cup. Speedster Evan Mayer filled in for ill running back Spencer Young, and came up big with his first-ever touchdown. Quarterback Jaxson Jones scored Cowichan's second major, which was converted with a nice running play by Treyton McCuaig-Jones.
Sawyer Ellison earned two points by taking down a Nanaimo player in the Bombers' end zone. Running back Thoran Koyote had a strong game and nearly added to the point total, but his 40-yard touchdown was called back because of a penalty. Tight end Jayden Du Temple finished off the scoring.
Linemen Du Temple, Jayden Strzok, Aundre Lauzon, Eston Canning, Matt Beauregard, Kaylum Billings and Nico Harris played on both offence and defence and showed plenty of power as well as versatility. Linebackers Ellison, Parker Lawrence, Jacob Billini, Rylan Ross and Ethan Bell held the Bombers to minimal yardage, while Mayer had a sack and several good tackles at cornerback.
"The Bulldogs broke down the Nanaimo offence and defence, but graciously showed extreme sportsmanship to the opposing team," coach Harris said.
Harris expressed thanks to assistant coaches Matt Jones, Travis McDonald and Jeff McDonald, trainer Moe Runzer and manager Jen Lawrence for their help.