The first weekend of Greater Victoria Minor Football Association play saw some terrific performances from the Cowichan Bulldogs.
While neither the pre-atom nor atom Bulldogs earned victories over the Gordon Head Raiders on Sunday, both squads showed lots of determination.
The pre-atoms held a halftime lead thanks to a touchdown by Jaxson Jones, who ran in his own convert. Running back Treyton McCuaig-Jones also had a strong game, running for big yards behind the blocking of linemen Ryan Creally and Matt Beauregaard. On defence, Evan Mayer and Rylan Ross slowed down the Raiders' attack with some timely tackles.
"It is only the first game of the season and against one of the top Victoria teams," pre-atom coach Ted Harris said. "We have another tough game this coming weekend against Westshore. We learned a lot of positive things from this last game. We will work on them this week. My boys are motivated and determined and loving the game, win or lose."
The atom Bulldogs also faced stiff competition in their Gordon Head counterparts. The Bulldogs racked up the yards in the first quarter as running back Brock Lamont followed the blocks of Trevor Eccleston and Harrison Padur, but neither team put any points on the board. On defence, linebacker Zach Pearson and cornerback Caden Gendall got in on multiple tackles to shut down any attempt by the Raiders to get through on the left side.
"The Raiders were able to get open and score in the second quarter despite our best effort to stop them," atom coach Devon Lawrence said. "With great pressure on the defence we were able to stop the extra point attempt."
The second half was much of the same, but Koda Lang, playing his first game for Cowichan, made an impact with several huge tackles.
The Bulldogs will head to Langford this Sunday to face the Westshore Warriors.