Season comes to an end for football Owls and Bears

The Central Okanagan high school football season came to an abrupt end on the weekend as both the Mt. Boucherie Bears and Kelowna Owls were eliminated in the first round of the senior AAA Subway Bowl playoffs.

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Racked with injuries and up against the perennial powerhouse Mt. Douglas Rams, the Bears dropped a 45-13 decision to the visitors from Victoria at the CNC’s Mission Stadium on Saturday. And in Burnaby, the Owls fell 39-12 to the Notre Dame Jugglers.

Boucherie, fourth-place finishers in the Eastern Conference of the B.C. Secondary School Association with a 4-3 record, fell behind quickly (19-0) to Mt. Douglas, but bounced back with a pair of touchdowns by Jesse Benneke to pull to within six points (19-13) in the third quarter before succumbing to the surging offence of the Rams.

After Benneke capped a long Boucherie drive with a TD run for his second TD, the Rams answered with their third major and added a fourth after Boucherie turned the ball over in their own end.

“We had some key defensive guys out heading into the game,” explained Boucherie head coach Mike Godwin. “And we got down to our No. 3 quarterback at one point in the game. We were already without are usual starting QB (Mitch Kopp) and lost nose guard (Ricardo Abraham) with an injury that really hurt us when it came to stopping the run.”

Godwin said his team played hard and was really close at times to the Lower Mainland and Island teams this season, but the Bears just couldn’t match up in terms of depth and experience.

“We don't get as many players coming up from Kelowna minor football as we used to, and it is really starting to effect us,” he pointed out. “Less than half our roster played in KMFA. The kids we get from community football are well-coached, but there are fewer and fewer coming up the ranks it seems.

“We had some great athletes on the roster, but they are a bit inexperienced and it takes time to learn the game. Mount Doug, as with most of our league opponents, have an advantage in this regard.”

Meanwhile, the Owls, 3-3 in the regular season and fifth-place finishers in the Eastern Conference, fumbled the opening kickoff and never really recovered against the favoured Notre Dame team that went into the game with a 4-3 record in the Western Conference.

"We didn't help ourselves with the mental errors. It’s a big learning experience for our program to understand what is needed to play in the playoffs," said head coach Chris Cartwright, whose team got touchdowns from Ben Peters and quarterback Marcus Athans.

“It was a tough loss for the boys, especially when they finished so well (three straight wins) in the regular season to earn a spot in the post-season.

“My heart goes out to our Grade 12 players. They are outstanding and tough young men who provided a strong foundation on which to build during the off-season.”

The junior varsity football season also came to a close at KSS as the Owls came out on the short end of a 60-34 decision to the Seaquam Seahawks of Delta at the CNC last week.

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The Owls, fifth-place finishers in the Interior Division, stayed close (26-20) in the first half, but injuries took their toll in the second.

“I thought our passing was tremendous, with veteran Isaac Athans (QB) and a group of talented receivers that included Nolan Ulm, Aidan Vint, Colby Miletto and Nate Beauchemin making it tough on Seaquam,” noted Owls’ head coach Kendall Gross. “On defence, linebackers Easton Schmuland and Nathan Gilbert, along with safety Tariq Brown, led the way with aggressive, hard-hitting play and some key stops to keep us in the game.

Gross said he was proud of all his players.

“They played with heart and really lived up to the Owls’ “Tough” philosophy,” he added. “We are already looking forward to next season and building on the success we had this year with an outstanding group of young men and athletes.”