The Okanagan Sun should have a little more swagger in their step tonight, having passed their first true test as the defending B.C. Football Conference champions.

After working out the kinks against the still winless Valley Huskers of Chilliwack and Kamloops Broncos — teams entering this weekend with a combined 0-6 record — the Sun stayed undefeated with a gritty 27-21 win over the Westshore Rebels in a first-place showdown during last Saturday’s home opener at the Apple Bowl in Kelowna.

“It was kind of an emotionally-charged atmosphere,” Sun head coach Ben Macauley said of facing the Rebels and former Okanagan bench boss Shane Beatty. “There was a lot of chirping going on from the opposing team before the game, and the message to our players was just ‘keep your head down and your mouth shut and we’ll do the talking on the field.’

“We came out really strong in the first quarter. We scored on our first drive and we shut down (Rebels running back Jamel) Lyles on their first drive, and things kind of just worked out the way we drew them up.

“At that point, our confidence was up and we knew we were going to be alright,” Macauley added.

Now, with that hurdle cleared, the Sun can feel like the team to beat again.

Expect that mentality to be evident tonight in hosting the rival Vancouver Island Raiders (2-1) for a 7 p.m. kickoff at the Apple Bowl. This will be the first meeting between these teams since last year’s BCFC championship game, which wound up being a one-sided rout with the Sun scoring a 54-0 shutout.

“The target is on our back, so everybody is going to play their best against us,” Macauley said. “That’s something we really have to keep in mind — it’s going to be tough every week.

“We don’t want to have an emotional letdown. We can’t afford to get sloppy . . . no games are given and we can’t afford to drop one if we want to keep first place.

“We, as a coaching staff, have to figure out ways to keep the guys engaged and getting better,” Macauley added.

Not that the Sun were ever doubting themselves, but significant roster turnover in the off-season and the Rebels’ strong start — with triumphs over tougher opponents in the Raiders and Langley Rams — raised interest around the conference for that battle between then 2-0 teams.

“There’s a lot of hype surrounding Westshore, but the reminder was ‘hey, this is a championship team right now. We’ve got the trophy sitting in our locker room. Nobody has taken it away. It doesn’t matter how many hashtags or Twitter followers you’ve got, we’ve still got the trophy sitting here and until someone proves that they are worthy of taking it, we better do everything we can to fight and keep it,’” Macauley said rather emphatically.

That rematch is slated for Sept. 10 in Victoria and should be another epic battle.

The Raiders, on the other hand, aren’t as brash as they used to be under former coach Matt (Snoop) Blokker, but they will be out to prove a point against the Sun. Vancouver Island will certainly want some form of redemption for its last visit to the Apple Bowl with the BCFC title at stake back in October.

“They don’t play soft football, they play tough football,” Macauley said of the Raiders. “They always kind of ride that edge of being overly aggressive, but they’re really tough kids and they play with a lot of heart.

“We recruited a lot of the same guys that they recruited — they won a couple of them, we won a couple of them — so we’re pretty familiar with their roster,” he added. “They’ve got some youth, we’ve got a little more experience. I think they only have five guys who will move on next year. But they can definitely score at will, so we’ll have to play safe and not let our foot off the gas with them. Really, no lead will be safe.”

As for how the Sun will play, Macauley said they were preparing a balanced attack on offence. This, after a run-heavy approach worked against the Rebels, though Okanagan is typically a pass-first team.

“We think guys are going to start stacking the box now, meaning we’ll have a chance to go over top,” Macauley said of the Raiders potentially game-planning to stop running back Brendan Hansen, who racked up 156 all-purpose yards as Okanagan’s key offensive player against Westshore.

“We’re playing against a younger secondary (against Vancouver Island),” he added, indicating quarterbacks Foster Martens and Keith Zyla were likely to share the reps again. “Foster clearly has the leadership thing down, but Zyla is sort of a gamebreaker still, so we plan on playing them both.”

Martens, who came to Kelowna from the University of Manitoba, had his best showing to date against Westshore and will likely get the start tonight.

“We’re doing a better job of calling things that fit his skill-set,” Macauley said. “Our offensive coordinator, Mike Wolthuizen, called a great game. It was really, some might say, conservative, but that’s how you play with the lead and we did a good job of that.

“Foster definitely takes care of the football and we had zero turnovers on offence, and that’s always a recipe to win.”