It will be a high school football game of import on so many levels tonight (Oct. 6).
The encounter under the lights of Friday night features Burnaby’s St. Thomas More Knights battling the Terry Fox Ravens of Port Coquitlam at Percy Perry Stadium in Coquitlam. Kickoff is 7 p.m.
First of all, it will be a fight for first in B.C. high school football’s AAA Eastern Conference since both teams are 2-0 in conference play, along with Surrey’s Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers.
Second, it is the quintessential battle between an unstoppable force and an immovable object. The Ravens have been rated as the top team in the province since the summer. Only an American team has beaten them. Against Canadian competition, Fox has been unstoppable, scoring 158 points in three games. The Knights have scored 157 points themselves, although it’s come over four games. What’s most impressive, however, is STM has yet to surrender a point. Its defence has not budged in pitching four shutouts.
And third, in addition to battling the Ravens, the Knights must deal with their emotions after losing their leader, head coach Bernie Kully, to cancer last weekend. The emotional scars on the varsity squad have been raw and visible this week leading up to yesterday’s (Thursday) funeral. Sometimes those powerful feelings can be channeled into high-level performance. In other cases, the emotions are so heavy they cause collapse.
Head coach Steve De Lazzari said the team has dedicated the game to Kully, whose ideas are all over the team’s defensive game plan for Fox.
“We hope we can direct the emotion in a positive way,” said De Lazzari.
The unknown aspect of how the Knights react is a cause for concern for Terry Fox coach Martin McDonnell.
“It’s a little daunting,” said McDonnell about facing an emotional STM squad with its stout defence. “This is going to be a real test for us to see where we’re at.
“We haven’t had too much of a challenge so far this year, but I think it’s coming. Hopefully the kids will believe us when we tell them it will be a tough one.”
STM’s defence can’t rest against the Ravens. Fox features the dynamic duo of Jaden Savery, who has rushed for 543 yards on 42 carries and has scored nine touchdowns, and quarterback Jevaun Jacobsen, who has 214 rushing yards on 21 carries and has thrown for 206 yards.
“If 15 (Severy) and 23 (Jacobsen) carry the ball with the speed and the quickness that they have, it’s going to be important for us to play disciplined defence, for our defensive line to keep in their run lanes and to not allow those guys into open field because when they’re in open field they’re difficult to stop. It’s going to take a colossal effort to stop those guys. They’re talented,” said De Lazzari.
However, STM’s defence has been stellar this season for several reasons.
“The physicality of the group, the speed of the group and the football IQ of the group, and when you put those three things in a defence that’s why they execute the way they do,” said DeLazzari, who admits Fox’s defence is as strong as his.
“Oh yeah, they’re ranked No. 1 for a reason. I wouldn’t say it was a mirror image, but it looks like they’ve got some pretty fast, athletic guys on both sides of the ball. They’re well coached, a very well-coached football team. They always have been. They’re very disciplined, so it’s going to be a challenge, that’s for sure.”
However, the Ravens D will have its hands full dealing with Knights running back Tyler Eckert. He has rushed 48 times for 765 yards (15.9 per carry), scoring 11 touchdowns. Five of those came last week in a 57-0 romp over Coquitlam’s Centennial Centaurs at Percy Perry. Eckert only carried the ball 10 times but finished with 284 yards. His first touch resulted in a 75-yard touchdown. He would go on to rush for TDs of 80, two, 22 and 18 yards.
“He was at a different level the other night,” said De Lazzari, whose squad moved to No. 5 in the rankings with the win.
Eckert is definitely on the Ravens radar.
“He’s going to be a load on offence. He’s just running over people. He’s just a big, strong kid that’s breaking tackles. He’s difficult to bring down,” said McDonnell.
Eckert also plays linebacker on defence. Against Centennial last Friday, he collected two sacks and five tackles. Nose tackle Sam Steele picked up a pair of sacks while making nine tackles. Colin Dalla Vecchio registered seven tackles and three sacks.
Quarterback Dario Ciccone threw a 14-yard TD toss to Taylor Dal Monte while Joel Pielak and Julian Valerio had rushing touchdowns.
“They just consistently work hard through the game. They’re really fit guys. They all look like athletes, not just football-specific players,” said McDonnell of STM. “We have some ideas, we definitely have schemed a bit.”
He also said the Ravens plan to hold a minute of silence for Kully before the game.
– with file from Mario Bartel
