Finding ways to win is what championship-calibre teams do best.
So far, so good for the Okanagan Sun through three weeks of the B.C. Football Conference season.
Not only are the Sun alone atop the provincial standings — undefeated at 3-0 — but it’s how they got there. The way they earned that record.
It started by rallying from an early 14-0 deficit in a rematch of last year’s Cullen Cup, avenging that loss to the Westshore Rebels of Victoria by beating them 19-15 in this year’s season opener on July 29 at the Apple Bowl in Kelowna.
Facing adversity after falling behind in front of their fans, the Sun dug in their heels, chipped away and persevered.
That confidence-builder surely helped when the going got tough in Langley on Saturday night, as Okanagan pulled away with two unanswered touchdowns in the fourth quarter to prevail 34-17 over the host Rams.
There, the Sun were clinging to a three-point lead — ahead 20-17 through three quarters — when quarterback Nick Wenman threw his first interception of the season, picked off in Okanagan territory by Kyle Clarot, the BCFC’s reigning defensive player of the week.
Langley had the momentum and a chance to take its first lead since opening the scoring with a field goal on its first offensive possession of the game — a 3-0 lead that stood up as the only points of the first quarter.
However, Okanagan’s defence held the Rams at bay, preventing any more points against, and Wenman made amends for his mistake by engineering consecutive scoring drives — capped by Kelton Kouri’s second rushing touchdown of the game, a nine-yard scamper with 8:53 remaining, and Wenman’s perfectly executed play-action scramble from two yards out with less than three minutes left.
“Not bad, I’ll take it,” Sun head coach Ben Macauley said of his team’s performance to date, with more positive signs emerging in Langley.
“We let them back into the game and, credit to them, they pulled it closer than we would have liked but, in the end, our guys made the stops when we needed to on defence and our offensive line got the job done to push us down to the end zone a couple more times to seal it.”
In between those competitive contests that could have went either way, Okanagan pitched a 36-0 shutout over the Kamloops Broncos — the better of last year’s two non-playoff teams.
This week, the Sun host the other bottom-feeder — the winless Valley Huskers of Chilliwack (0-3), who have been outscored by a combined 120-8 to date, including a season-opening 41-8 defeat in Kamloops followed by consecutive shutout losses at home.
So, the Sun shouldn’t have to break a sweat in improving to 4-0 on Saturday, 7 p.m. at the Apple Bowl.
At Langley, there were tense times and the Sun’s resiliency was put to the test again.
Stressful for the coaching staff, but crucial for continued success.
“We’re still trying to find out our identity, as a whole,” Macauley said. “We’re seeing how mentally tough guys are. Just like anything else, it’s a muscle that we’ve got to exercise — and the more opportunity to do that, the better.
“You can only prepare so much in practice, and you try to make game-like situations, but nothing really compares to the real thing, with something at stake. So, we welcome those situations — those challenges.”
Okanagan will also welcome this week’s sure blowout as a chance to rest some regulars — a few who have nagging injuries — and get healthier ahead of a home-and-home with the second-place Vancouver Island Raiders (2-1) that begins Aug. 26 in Nanaimo. Incumbent quarterback Keith Zyla is expected to return for that showdown too.
In the meantime, the Sun need to stay the course and avoid complacency and bad habits against an inferior opponent.
“Even if we’re 3-0, we still know that we haven’t played our best football yet,” Macauley said. “We’re just going to keep taking steps forward every week and hopefully our steps are bigger than the other teams.
“Each team that we’ve played so far, we can only assume is going to improve over the course of the season. So it’s going to force us to be better and better as well.
“We have to stay healthy and we have to figure out ways of keeping things fresh and not falling into the routine, and not looking at ourselves like we are great and we don’t have any more work to do,” Macauley continued. “Because that’s completely not the case. We’re young as well and we’ve got guys making mistakes, but fortunately we’re making mistakes and still managing to get wins.
“If we can start eliminating those mistakes and become more convincing in our wins, I’ll be happy.”
Against Langley, the Sun were trailing 3-0 after the first quarter but leading 17-10 at halftime.
Kouri’s first touchdown — a 12-yard carry in the second quarter — gave Okanagan its first lead at 10-3. Then, after Cody Thompson blocked a Rams’ punt, Wenman tossed an 11-yard TD pass to Kyler Mosley for a 17-3 advantage with two minutes left in the first half.
Isaac Wegner kicked two field goals to round out Okanagan’s scoring — connecting on a 22-yard equalizer on the first play of the second quarter, then extending Okanagan’s lead to 20-10 with a 30-yarder early in the third quarter.
The Rams didn’t roll over, though — keeping it tight until the later stages. Their star receiver, Khalik Johnson, hauled in a Hail Mary touchdown from Colby Peters on a third-and-10 gamble in the dying seconds before halftime. Fifth-year running back Nathan Lund also got loose for a 29-yard score in the third quarter, bringing Langley back to within three points.
That’s as close as the Rams would come in falling to 1-2 on the season. Langley also lost its home opener to the Raiders 20-13 before routing the Huskers 39-0 in Chilliwack to even its record.
The Huskers have suffered consecutive shutout losses at home, including a 40-0 thumping at the hands of the Raiders on Saturday.
EXTRA POINTS: The Sun blocked three punts against the Rams and also recorded two interceptions, with Beck Fullerton’s pick setting up Wenman’s touchdown before Tye Kitzman ended a late Langley threat with his third takeaway in as many games. . . . Kitzman, from Vernon, has been dominant as a defensive back this season and entered Saturday leading the entire BCFC in defensive points with 29 from two previous interceptions, two batted balls, eight solo tackles and an assist. . . . The team stats were close throughout, with Okanagan edging Langley in first downs (20-17), while the Rams finished with more yards of total offence (349-308).