Ari Ali ran for two touchdowns and passed for a third to lead the Moscrop Panthers to first place in the B.C. high school Tier II football division.
The Moscrop quarterback opened the scoring on a one-yard run up the middle and also scored on a short run in the third quarter as the Panthers defeated Timberline 39-8 at Burnaby Lake Sports Complex-West last Friday.
Ali also connected on a 70-yard pass-and-run with Jerome Cross for another score.
The victory lifted Moscrop’s record to five wins without a loss, including a second straight in the regular season.
“We’re No. 1 right now. It puts up in the driver’s seat,” said Moscrop head coach Craig Bymoen.
The win all but guarantees Moscrop as host team for the upcoming playoffs in November.
Eddie Ruan gave Moscrop good field position with a fumble recovery that set up the Panthers’ opening score.
Abdinasir Abdi gave the Panthers a 14-0 lead after taking the ball 18 yards on the first play following a botched Timberline punt attempt.
Moscrop led 24-0 at half time.
Jared Gilding’s second fumble recovery of the game set up Moscrop for the first score in the third quarter.
Ali engineered a 45-yard drive before punching the ball over the line from two yards out.
Later in the quarter, Hamed Ghias also scored on a 30-yard punt return for the Panthers. Ghias also kicked the extra point.
Moscrop was unlucky to surrender a last-second touchdown to Timberline.
Lineman Veyas Sharma recovered a fumble following a third-and-goal stop on the Moscrop goal line.
But on the ensuing play, a bad snap allowed Timberline to recover the ball in the Moscrop end zone on the final play of the game for the visitors’ only score.
The Panthers have posted three shutouts so far this season and finish off the season against two teams that have had trouble scoring.
Moscrop takes on the Eric Hamber at Burnaby Lake Sports Complex-West today (Friday) at 3:30 p.m.
The Panthers then complete their regular season on the road against winless Earl Marriot.
“We have a good group of athletes,” added Bymoen. “On defence, we have a lot of kids who want to tackle.”
Moscrop’s junior varsity team is currently 1-3.
