The numbers from 27 hours of football in Burnaby are staggering.
Three games, 280 points, the No. 1 high school team in the province, first NCAA conference win for Simon Fraser University, and three hours and five minutes for a high school football game.
The storylines were many on Oct. 7 and 8, and where the story ended up is what makes sports so captivating: the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat and the emotions of players competing to the best of one's abilities.
The Moscrop Panthers dropped a triple overtime 60-57 Tier II high school football game to Frank Hurt of Surrey on Oct. 7, in a game where only family and friends were present. Less than an hour after that game ended, the number-1-ranked high school team in the province, the St. Thomas More Knights, was playing the number 2 team, W.J. Mouat of Abbotsford in a nail-biting game that went to the final minute, with the Knights prevailing 25-20.
Sixteen hours later, at Fox Field at Simon Fraser University, the SFU Clan kicked off against Dixie State in yet another attempt to get their first Great Northwest Athletic Conference win in two seasons. More than three-and-a-half hours later, the Clan got that win, 62-56 in triple overtime.
The Burnaby NOW talked to many of the people involved in this momentous night in Burnaby football. Here's the story of three great football games.
MOSCROP VS. FRANK HURT
"I'm still pretty bitter about the loss," said Moscrop head coach Craig Bymoen three days afterwards. "I haven't seen a game like this since 1998, when I was at (Burnaby) Central and we lost the Burnaby Bowl to STM."
The Panthers rolled up more than 500 yards in offence and even held a four touchdown-lead at one point after running back the opening kickoff of the second half for a touchdown.
But for a team that only had seven players who had ever played the sport prior to this year, it wasn't a big enough lead.
"Things started to go wrong after that," said Bymoen. "We lost two key guys with rolled ankles, and then I had to put a lot of guys into different positions."
Panthers' starting quarterback, Jesse Johnston, would finish 18-for-32 for 292 yards and three touchdowns in the air, adding five carries for 43 yards and one TD rushing.
"Jesse's really matured as a player and as a leader," said Bymoen. "I am extremely pleased with his play this year. He's a student of the game, and he's showing a lot of mental and physical maturity. This is a kid who was injured the last two seasons with a broken arm, and it's great to see him coming back like this."
Bymoen also had kind word for his talented slot receiver Marcus Perrin, who had six catches for 109 yards and one touchdown, while wideouts Parm Bhullar and Mohammed Indakem combined for four catches, 130 yards and one touchdown.
"They all have extremely good hands and are great blockers," said Bymoen.
Also being cited for good play were slot receiver Keir Yonge who Bymoen said can "block on inside runs and has quick feet and soft hands"; Titus Le, who "has a nose for the end zone . and is a real leader on our team"; Frank Hung, who had a 90-yard kickoff return to open the second half; and defensive Brandon Cho, Jamie Low and Grade 10 Adam Samuels, who each had five to seven individual tackles.
The game, which lasted more than three hours, starting at 3 p.m. and going right until 6: 05 p.m. meant that St. Thomas More and W.J. Mouat had little time for pre-game festivities before their 7 p.m. game.
STM VS. MOUAT
The number-2 ranked Hawks from Abbotsford came out with visions of number 1 in their minds.
An opening drive that consumed almost seven minutes and included two fourthdown conversations culminated in a oneyard Devin Logan touchdown run.
But STM needed only two plays and 40 seconds to respond, as Alex Golding hauled in a 19-yard pass from Mikey Carney and then running back Kyle Madden ran under a Carney rainbow and scored from 50 yards out.
STM would take the lead in the second quarter when Madden showed his allworld skills on defence.
Tackling Logan for a four-yard loss, Madden then snuck back into coverage on the next play, fooling Mouat quarterback Daniel Markin into throwing a pick that Madden returned to the Hawks' 26-yardline.
On the next play, Carney scrambled in for the go-ahead touchdown.
The Hawks drove back to take the lead when Deion Bain showed lights-out speed to run under a 46-yard TD pass from Markin.
STM would take the half-time lead when wideout Gio Trasolini scored on a slant, and then killed the final Hawks' drive of the half by picking the ball at his own 38.
The teams would stiffen defensively for the first 21 minutes of the second half before the Hawks converted on fourth down and only 3: 02 left in the game.
Bain made a fingertip catch in the right corner of the endzone to give Mouat a onepoint lead at 20-19.
The Knights, starting at their own 20, then needed only 64 seconds to take the lead. Madden with a 12-yard reception and then a 60-yarder, set up the Knights deep in Mouat territory before Trasolini scored from seven yards out.
With only 1: 58 left, the Hawks had a chance to win, but Grade 10 defensive back Malcolm Lee made his second pick of the game and the fourth thrown by Markin, and the Knights were still the number-1 team in the province.
"We have a midnight rule," said Knights head coach Bernie Kully. "Celebrate this victory until midnight, and then we start concentrating on next week's game. . We'll have a Monday run and film work."
Carney said the key moment in the game was Madden's pick.
"That was a game changer," said Carney. "We took the lead and then we were able to get it back later too. ... This was a big win for us."
SFU CLAN VS. RED STORM
For the 450 people in attendance - Kyle Madden included - at Fox Field on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 2 p.m., there was little reason to believe the hometown Clan would get their first GNAC victory.
After all, the St. George, Utah-based Red Storm had beaten the Clan 42-7 on Sept. 17.
But the teams combined for 1,034 offensive yards, 61 first downs and 118 points before the Clan could celebrate a 62-56 triple overtime victory.
Leading the charge for the Clan was running back Bo Palmer, who had 238 yards, including 180 on the ground and 58 yards on five receptions to go with his two rushing touchdowns. His running mate, Burnaby native and former Notre Dame star Steve Spagnuolo, contributed his first NCAA touchdown and 43 rushing yards.
Quarterback Trey Wheeler had 306 passing yards and three touchdowns, while backup quarterback Greg Bowcott came in for two rushing touchdowns and a two-point conversion.
Receiver B.J. Bryant had two touchdown receptions and 134 yards on six catches while former Centennial grad Bobby Pospischil also had a touchdown and a game-high 10 receptions for 79 yards.
The Red Storm got a breakout performance from quarterback Stefan Cantwell, who was making his first GNAC start.
Cantwell ran for three touchdowns and threw for five others in a 357-yard passing performance.
But, at the end of the day, it was the Clan who celebrated deliriously after a win that was too long in coming.
"We desperately needed this win," said Johnson. "I've talked for two years about the quality of our character, and today it was character in action. When it got to overtime, we didn't outcoach anybody. Our kids outplayed their kids, and that is maybe the most satisfying thing."
Johnson said that while his players had moral victories in the past, a real victory was what the team needed.
"We can build on this," he said. "When I got here in 2007, we hadn't won in three years. ... It's hard to get out of a rut unless you start getting victories. ... I think this victory is something that we can build on because we have some great character in the room."
And that character begins with Palmer, the North Vancouver native that Johnson said is as good a university student as he is a football player.
"Bo's quiet, but he's as good a guy as he is a player," said Johnson. "He's intense, he gives of his time, and he just really gives everything out on the field."
In fact, on the game-winning drive, after the Clan had stopped the Red Storm and only had to score a field goal to win the game, Johnson gave the rock to Palmer and let his big man do the job.
"I didn't have to say much of anything," said Johnson. "The offence knew Bo was getting the ball and he punched it in."
Johnson also loved what Spagnuolo brought to the team.
"Steve, he was a redshirt freshman and he only gets a third of the reps in practice," said Johnson. "What we love about him is he can move laterally as quick as he moves forward. He's getting bigger, close to 190 pounds and that's testament to all the work in the weight room he's doing."
And having Bowcott come in on short-yardage plays means the Clan have another scoring option.
"Greg's 6-5, 230 and he's a powerful, smart runner," said Johnson.
"For the equation to finally fit, it is very satisfying," said Johnson. "Heck yeah, we can build on this. We're just over halfway into our schedule and now that these guys know what it feels like to get a win, I think we're going to get addicted to this feeling."
With the SFU game ending at 5: 32 p.m., just a little more than 26.5 hours after Moscrop kicked off its Tier 2 game, a thrilling schedule of Burnaby football games came to a close.
Johnson gets the last word: "Football in B.C. is so good right now. Coaches are doing such a good job and the culture has really changed. The quality of our athletes has never been better and the quality of the football shows it. ... I'm proud to be a part of it."
