Shane Beatty repeated as a B.C. Football Conference champion.
The Okanagan Sun did not.
The Sun committed eight turnovers — including three interceptions and three fumbles — in a mistake-filled 32-21 defeat, as Beatty and the Westshore Rebels celebrated Saturday night on their home turf in Victoria.
Beatty coached the Sun to last year’s BCFC championship, then controversially parted ways with the Kelowna-based junior football team before resurfacing as the Rebels’ defensive co-ordinator under head coach JC Boice. Together, they turned a 2-8 non-playoff team into an 8-1-1 regular-season and now playoff champion — capturing Victoria’s first BCFC title since 2003.
The Rebels won the right to host the Canadian Bowl on Nov. 12, awaiting the winner of today’s Prairie Football Conference final between the defending CJFL champion Saskatoon Hilltops and the visiting Calgary Colts.
For the Sun and first-year head coach Ben Macauley, this is the end of the line.
Okanagan was trying to hold its collective head high, having overcome a three-game losing streak to secure second place at 7-3 and home-field advantage in the semifinals — where the Sun won a 26-23 overtime thriller against the Langley Rams at the Apple Bowl on Oct. 16.
In Saturday’s title game, the Sun rallied in the second half to make the result respectable by scoring the game’s final three touchdowns. However, the damage was done in falling behind 32-0, including 25-0 heading into halftime.
“Those early turnovers were really what did it, giving them momentum and giving them the football with a short field — they’ve got the guys who can finish the job,” Macauley said of fumbles that led directly to BCFC-leading rusher Jamel Lyles opening the scoring on a 14-yard scamper before Rebels quarterback Ashton Mackinnon connected on a nine-yard touchdown pass to Birhanu Yitna.
“What makes it worse is they didn’t beat us, we beat ourselves,” Macauley added. “We felt if we didn’t spot them their first three scores, we win the game.”
The Rebels tacked on another touchdown to open the third quarter and it looked to be a total rout, before the Sun began mounting their comeback under backup quarterback Keith Zyla, who replaced an ineffective Foster Martens.
It took Zyla only three plays, including a big run by Kelton Kouri, to get Okanagan into the end zone — calling his own number for a one-yard plunge to cap his first drive. That sparked the Sun, as Zyla threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Shamar Donelson and then handed off to Kyler Mosley for another three-yard major.
“I’m proud of the way the guys finished,” Macauley said. “Being down 25 points, nobody quit, and we showed a lot of character and resilience. . . .
“We ended up being able to execute our game plan, but just way too late.”
With momentum shifting and the Rebels reeling, Jamie Turek appeared to bring Okanagan closer by returning a botched punt for a score with about four minutes remaining in the final frame. But a controversial ruling — that the punter had stepped out of bounds — overturned that touchdown and the Sun ran out of time.
“I just looked at my phone briefly and it’s flooded with texts saying he was at least two yards in bounds, but I haven’t seen it yet,” Macauley said. “Maybe it makes a difference in the end, but certainly we had all the momentum going.
“We were just on fire at the end, especially on defence. We had Jamel’s number, we were tackling, we were making huge hits, we had everything working right, but that hole was just too deep.
“It was clear we had them scared, but time was an enemy, and we just couldn’t get the job done.”
GAME STORY
Ben Macauley called his first season as head coach of the Okanagan Sun a learning experience — albeit, a mostly positive one.
Making the jump to junior from the high-school level at Kelowna Secondary, Macauley led the Sun to an impressive 6-0 start — topping the B.C. Football Conference standings at the Labour Day break.
It was a roller-coaster from there, however, with the Sun stumbling to a three-game losing streak that included a humbling 58-2 home defeat in a historic crossover game and rematch of last year’s Canadian Bowl against the defending CJFL champion Saskatoon Hilltops.
Okanagan recovered to salvage second place at 7-3 and secure home-field advantage in the semifinals — where the Sun won their second straight game over the Langley Rams, a thrilling 26-23 overtime triumph at the Apple Bowl on Oct. 16.
That set the stage for a trip to Victoria to face the Westshore Rebels and former Sun coach Shane Beatty in Saturday’s BCFC championship game.
The teams had split their season series — each winning at home and by six points — but the rubber match was one-sided in the first half, with the host Rebels capitalizing on Sun turnovers in building up a 25-0 lead. Westshore made it 32-0 early in the third quarter before Okanagan rallied to score the game’s final three touchdowns in making the result respectable at 32-21.
“The year kind of was like this game, with big ups and big downs,” Macauley said. “To lose in the championship game is tough, but we’ve got to look at the positives and we’ve got a lot of things we can build off.”
The Rebels will now host the Hilltops in this year’s Canadian Bowl on Nov. 12, with Saskatoon beating the visiting Calgary Colts 43-31 in Sunday’s Prairie Football Conference final.
The Sun are done, already turning the page to next season.
“We’ve got the foundation for a really good returning team, but it’s going to be a matter of those guys putting in lots of work in the offseason and being ready to take the next step,” Macauley said. “That’s not just being in the games, but being dominant in the games. That’s our big challenge.”
Expectations will remain high, as always, and Okanagan’s roster shouldn’t experience as much turnover as last season. Still, there will be some key holes to fill for 2017.
“We lose some really good players, but we only lose seven of them,” said Macauley, who was hired in April to replace Beatty in a controversial coaching change that saw Beatty resurfaced as Westshore’s defensive co-ordinator.
“We’re losing a couple studs on the offensive line,” continued Macauley, “so we’re going to have our work cut out for us in recruiting, but now we’re going to have a full year as opposed to being three or four months behind.”
Barring unforeseen circumstances, Macauley should be back and bring stability to the coaching staff.
“It was a huge learning experience. I learned a lot about the game of football, more than the Xs and Os,” Macauley admitted. “I’m 30 years old which, I feel old, but in the coaching world is still pretty young. So if I’m given the opportunity to keep at it for a few years, we’re going to be in good shape.
“I’m hopeful that this team is just using this as a building block,” he added.
There were also difficult decisions over the course of the campaign — such as benching NFL-calibre receiver Rashaun Simonise for Saturday’s championship game.
“It was a team rules (violation). I decided not to play him,” Macauley said of the mid-season addition, a potential ringer who had been released by the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals after starring for the University of Calgary last year. “It wasn’t anything to do with his character, it was just some things that we, as a coaching staff, these are our principles and I’ve enforced them on other guys. Whether it was a third-stringer or a guy from the NFL, it was the same.
“It was a tough call but something I stand behind and, had we moved on, I think it would have been the same for the national championship.”
