Spring cleaning has nothing on the autumn scrubbing that occurs when the B.C. high school football season turns to the playoffs.
Purging data and known results in an effort to recondition their ambitions, coaches brush up on their favourite clichés and anecdotes in hopes of getting the right mix of preparedness and adrenalin for the post-season experience.
The St. Thomas More Knights will look to bottle that four-game win streak and momentum into the new season, facing long-time arch-nemesis Vancouver College Fighting Irish on Friday, 7:30 p.m. at Burnaby Lake West.
To do so, Knights coach Bernie Kully said the work of the past three months will give them a chance to advance in this incredibly balanced 2016 football season.
“I don’t think there’s any downside in having won (four straight games) but you just take things in perspective,” said Kully. “You have to live in the moment and kind of put all these other things behind you, because the winner gets going and the loser goes home.”
More’s final win of the regular season, 48-0 over Mission, was another in a string of convincing victories that earned them home field advantage in the playoff opener.
The Knights benefited from the return of Tyler Eckert, who demonstrated fine form in his second week back in the lineup. The Grade 11 all-star ran for 200 yards on 10 carries, scoring three times. Quarterback Kolby Buljevic completed six of 12 pass attempts for 170 yards, hitting Devon Hayek for a pair of touchdown passes and Mateo Montagliani a single. Nate Nacario rounded out the offence with a rushing major.
Getting Eckert back after a month off to injury has been a big boost, although the team had started to turn its record around – finishing at 4-3 and fourth overall in the Eastern Conference – just prior to his return.
“At this time of year no one’s 100 per cent healthy but we are definitely healthier than five weeks ago,” said Kully. “I think we match-up well with (VanCollege), we’ve improved a lot since we played them (in Week 2, a 20-14 loss) but so have they.”
The winner advances to face Notre Dame, which finished first in the Western Conference.
