Every week reporters from BCFC cities give their two cents on how the teams are going to fair this week. Thanks to Marty Hastings (Kamloops this Week), Warren Henderson (Kelowna Daily Courier), Eric Welsh (Chilliwack Progress), Gary Ahuja (Langley Times) and Don Descoteau (Goldstream Gazette)
Its Cullen Cup weekend as the Westshore Rebels are at home looking to dethrone the defending conference champion Okanagan Sun.
Let’s see how our reporters call this game!
Marty; I’ll take the Rebels to get past the Sun in the final, using their running game to wear down Okanagan. Rebels win 24-19.
Warren; Based on a regular season split, with each team scoring 50 points, it might as well be a coin-flip between the two combatants.
The Rebels have home field advantage, while the defending BCFC champs have the edge in big-game experience. Look for this one to go right down to the wire in a classic Cullen Cup final. The Sun takes it 28-26.
Don; This game appears to be a crapshoot in terms of selecting a winner, as both teams are coming in on a high after winning tightly contested semifinals. But that’s the way it should be, right?
In the Rebels’ case, they’ve long since overachieved this season, having stepped out from the shadows of going 2-8 three straight seasons to convincingly win the BCFC regular season title. That turnaround makes it clear that the serious recruiting done by head coach J.C. Boice and company – he was named BCFC coach of the year last weekend – has paid off big time.
First-year Rebels have been outstanding as a rookie crop this season. On his own, running back Jamel Lyles makes this team’s offence dangerous and unpredictable. Not only did he shatter the league rushing record with 1,604 yards, he piled up 2,360 all-purpose yards, was last weekend named BCFC outstanding offensive player and offensive back of the year.
Other rookies have made a big impact, including centre Christian Krause, who earned the league’s top offensive lineman award; Trey Campbell, Lyles’ running mate (605 yds. rushing), receivers Nathaniel Pinto (644 yds., 29.3 yards ave., eight TDs) and Kain Melchior (410 yds., 20.5 ave., five TDs), and on defence, lineman Kent Hicks (5.5 sacks, also punts for team) and linebacker Adam Masur (21 solo tackles, 33 total).
For a guy who Boice points to still needing work on his passing game, quarterback Ashton Mackinnon has performed admirably. Sure, his completion rate of 53.3% is average, but consider that his yards per reception figure of 18.73 led the league among starters – that number speaks to the quality of his receiving corps. And the fearless Mackinnon’s running ability (458 yds. rushing, sixth in league) gives this team yet another weapon on offence to contend with.
The explosive Rebels amassed 488 yards per game on offence, easily tops in the league, while the Sun averaged about 380. But this crafty Okanagan squad is known for its surgical precision against opposing defences. The big question mark is whether quarterback Foster Martens (lge. best 62.2% completion rate) will be available for this game, having suffered a concussion recently. If head coach Ben Macauley and the Sun are forced to start rookie backup Keith Zyla, this game will have a very different dynamic.
Okanagan has a number of offensive weapons of their own. At receiver there’s late-season acquisition and former Cincinnati Bengals prospect, Rashaun Simonise (22.1 yds./catch), Liam Wishart (548 yds.) and Shamar Donelson (425 yds., 19.3 yds./catch).
On the ground, Brenden Hansen is the workhorse for the Sun. Given the rock 101 times, he collected 518 yards, fifth-best in the BCFC, while Zyla, Martens and Kelton Kouri surpassed 200 yards each.
Defensively the teams match up fairly well, with neither featuring a game-breaker, although the Sun’s Layne Hull (35 total tackles) earned the BCFC’s top linebacker and outstanding defensive player awards last weekend.
Looking at the defensive measurables, the Sun intercepted 20 passes this season, returning four for TDs, while the Rebels ran back none of their 13 picks for TDs. Westshore’s tenacious D forced 10 fumbles and recovered eight in all, compared to the Sun’s two and four, respectively. And Okanagan recorded 28 sacks to the Rebels’ 22.5, with the Suns’ Cory McCoy (six) and the Rebels’ Byron Mackinnon and Kent Hicks (5.5 each) leading their teams in that category.
On paper, the Rebels appear to have more things going for them, not to mention home field advantage. But as I have mentioned here before, the Sun are the Sun and many of their players have experienced getting to and playing in the big game.
It’ll be close, as their previous two head-to-head games have been this season, but I pick the Rebels by a hair, 27-25.
Gary; Offensively, the Rebels have the edge, with the league’s most potent ground game leading the way.
Defensively, the Sun had a league-high 28 sacks, as well as 24 turnovers (20 interceptions and four fumbles) plus six defensive touchdowns.
The teams split the season series, with both winning on their home field by six points.
And while the Sun are more accustomed to being in the title game, the Rebels will use home-field advantage and their rushing attack to win a close one.
Rebels 27 Sun 24
