One too many mistakes cost the St. Thomas More Knights a spot in the Subway Bowl final.
The Knights held the defending three-time B.C. high school AAA football championships to less than 25 points for just the second time this season in a 23-13 loss in their semifinal playoff at UBC's Thunderbird Stadium on Saturday.
Played under clear skies and in sub-zero temperatures, STM appeared to have a solid game plan against the Vancouver Island powerhouse.
STM's defence and special teams put the ball into the offence's hands on two occasions in the opening half to give the Knights a pair of short-lived leads.
Demarius Henderson recovered a fumble in the first quarter that led to quarterback Terrell Jana's 15-yard touchdown run to open the scoring.
JJ DesLauriers also came up with the ball following a fumbled Mt. Douglas punt return that set the Knights up inside the Ram's half for their second score on a 23-yard toss from Jana into the end zone to Luca Bellini.
But the Rams also made plays to get out of the first half tied 13-13.
Mt. Doug's Seye Farinu scampered seven yards to tie the score 7-7 in the opening quarter after teammate Manny Lopez returned a Knights' kickoff 50 yards to the STM 30-yard line.
Farinu was also Johnny-on-the-spot late in the second quarter, stepping inside an ill-considered Jana pass deep in the STM half and taking the interception into the end zone from 12 yards out with just 46 seconds left in the half.
The two teams turned the ball over on downs for most of the third quarter until a Mt. Douglas fumble recovery and an ensuing personal foul call put the ball within scoring reach of the Rams.
Farinu, who was carried off the field earlier in the possession, gave way to the power running of fullback Pato Vega, who showed the depth of the dynamic Mt. Douglas football program, taking much of the offence on his back from that point on, including a six-yard run for what proved to be the game-winning score.
"We made critical errors that led to their 13 points and ultimately it cost us the ball game," said STM head coach Bernie Kully, who was agonizingly close to taking the Knights to their first Subway Bowl final since 2007.
"Our offence was so great this year scoring points. The plays were there," said Kully. "Everything was there for us to be successful."
Jana completed 11 of 27 pass attempts for 154 yards, but many of the incompletions were either dropped or just overthrown.
Trailing 20-13 early in the fourth quarter, Jana had the ball inside the Mt. Doug red zone on what proved to be the final chance STM would have to score, when an attempted pass was batted into the air at the line of scrimmage and caught by Byron MacKinnon for the Knights' third of four turnovers on interceptions. Jana also rushed for 109 yards, while Knights running back Shane Noel contributed 71 more yards to the STM ground attack.NWSS juniors win hoop tournament at Collingwood
Kieran Janes took the loss like a Knight.
"I was happy to play just one more tough, gridiron game with my family," said the senior defensive end. "We had to ball out and prepare to stop their run and stop their pass. ... Unfortunately the outcome didn't come our way.
"But we thought we could have had it at any time. ... We knew we could win it on any of those plays."
Mt. Douglas moved on to its fourth consecutive AAA final against the South Delta Sun Devils, who upset No. 1-ranked Terry Fox 16-13 in the other semifinal.
In AAA junior varsity football, Notre Dame advanced to its first B.C. bowl final since 1997, following a 28-14 win over Mt. Boucherie last week. The JV Jugglers will take on Terry Fox in the final at B.C. Place on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 1 p.m.
