The midget Cowichan Timbermen have yet to earn their first win of the Vancouver Mainland Football League season, but last Sunday’s 14-7 defeat by the Coquitlam Falcons in their home opener was a huge improvement over the previous week’s loss to White Rock.
“It was a defensive battle for sure,” head coach Opie Williams said. “Our defence played much better than in the White Rock game.”
The Cowichan defence got a sack from Tyler Campiou and an interception from Garion Ferguson, while Justin Young came up with a fumble recovery and Wyatt Faickney and Jonas Joseph provided pressure from the outside.
On offence, the T-Men got some great runs from tailback Jake Borserio and big blocks from fullback Mitch Hinton.
“We made some mistakes and we couldn’t capitalize on field position,” Williams said. “We couldn’t move the ball as effectively in the red zone.”
Trailing 13-0, the T-Men got themselves on the scoreboard with a 53-yard touchdown run by Kain Melchior and an extra point by Mitchell Gudgeon. The Falcons closed out the scoring by punting for a single point.
The Timbermen travel to Chilliwack this Saturday for a 2 p.m. game that will be webcast at chilliwackgiants.com. Williams will be back behind the bench after missing the first two games of the season due to a suspension.
“They have a strong running game and we are preparing for it,” Williams said. “We stop their running game and capitalize on ours, we will come away victorious.”
The bantam Bulldogs lost 40-0 to the Coquitlam Leopards last Sunday, but also improved over the previous week’s outing.
“We still have some things to work on,” coach Mike Williams said. “Our tackling needs some work, some finish. The kids have to remember that it’s a contact sport. Offensively, we did some good things; we could move the ball, but we couldn’t finish. The kids are coming together as a team, playing for each other, and that’s a positive thing.”
The bantam Bulldogs will play the Richmond Raiders at home this Sunday, kicking off at
2:30 p.m. At 1 p.m., the peewee Bulldogs will play their first game of the season at home against the Victoria Hitmen.