Last weekend before the Labour Day weekend and the good news is the Conference got all  three games off this weekend, albeit not without the Huskers and Broncos dealing with a venue change. Job well done by Huskers President Brenda Currie and all her crew in hosting the game on very short notice. Special thanks to VBN for pulling a crew together to provide a game stream. Monday Musings before we take a week off…

If the Kamloops Broncos didn’t have bad luck would they have any at all this year? Blown out of their first two games, then one home game gets taken away altogether due to smoke, and a week later are forced to travel rather than host due to smoke again in Kamloops. We are all hoping that by the time the club is to host the Huskers in the second half of a home and home things will clear up in Kamloops, as losing another home gate would be devastating to the bottom line there.

The Broncos dropped to 0-3 with another loss, but give them credit, with everything going on it would have been easy to mail in the two points. They swung punch for punch with the Huskers until the late going and didn’t quit.

Stifling a coach’s right to an opinion is never an easy decision, but the BCFC suspension for the manner in which Rebels Head Coach Charly Cardilicchia sounded off in a Kamloops paper last week was a "no brainer." While his venting might have been excessive even for his standards, for me the surprising part wasn’t what he said or how he said it, but rather that he said anything at all.

Neither he nor his Kamloops Broncos counterpart Brad Yamaoka were happy about how the August 18th game cancellation was handled. Yamaoka was not pleased that the game was cancelled and that his club is forced to play a 4-point game on the island in a view weeks.  It's easy to see why he wouldn’t like the card he has been given, as he stated he would have preferred the game be made up Labour Day in Kamloops. Any coach in his position would likely prefer that option.

Cardilicchia’s displeasure was on two fronts, first that his club boarded a bus Saturday morning that was ultimately turned back in Abbotsford. His thought being the decision could have been made Saturday morning rather than Friday night. While that’s debatable, even if we give him that concession, the fact is financially his club isn’t out a dime as the trip was a budgeted road trip for the Rebels.

His second issue was opposite that of Yamaoka, in that he said in no uncertain terms would his team play a make-up game in Kamloops…and he isn’t. Rather he has the 4-point affair that he told me not 2 days before the story appeared in the paper he was happy about. When his blow up appeared in print I was shaking my head a bit wondering just exactly what it was he was so worked up about.

He might just be thinking the exact same thing himself right about now.

Is the Raiders lopsided win over the Rebels surprising to everyone outside the Raiders locker room? The Raiders winning the game may not have made the conference take notice, but the dominating fashion in which they accomplished it likely did. Doug Hocking said if his squad was able to put 4 quarters together look out. If the last 5 quarters are any indication, this team looks to have a tight grip on first place.

If not for that second half collapse against the Huskers opening weekend, this team would be undefeated right now. I’m probably getting ahead of myself, but the Raiders and Huskers who are tied atop the conference with 3-1 records meet the final weekend of the season, who would have predicted that game would decide first place? The parity that seems to exist this season says yes, way ahead of myself.

What seems to be a constant elevated level of tension between the Rebels and Raiders resulted in a bit of a dust up with 5 minutes to play, and while the Rebels seemed to be the aggressors based on game film,  something always seems to occur between these teams is troubling.

This should be a great rivalry, and in so many ways it is, but the tension between the teams is not healthy and it’s not good PR for the league when CHEK News understandably makes the situation a large part of their story.

Rebels acting head coach Shane Beatty is somewhat hard wired himself and known for being a bit excessively charged up on the sideline, although this year observers have noticed he has calmed somewhat. Regardless, when he was the bench boss in Okanagan for three years his players were on a very tight leash, and what we saw Saturday night would likely not have occurred if he was the full-time head coach. Interesting that he said as much in a CHEK News post game story, where he as well as the Raiders Doug Hocking blamed the team in red for the incident.

Knowing Beatty as I do, if he is in control at the next few Rebels practices the players are in for some military style discipline.

It was a good night if you are a fan of dominating defence, but a tough night for quarterbacks Duncan Little of the Langley Rams and Keith Zyla of the Okanagan Sun as they were harassed for a combined 8 interceptions, 11 batted balls and 8 sacks by the Rams and Sun defences.

Little was atop the conference in most passing categories heading into this one, and Zyla was pressed into action from the secondary on a week’s notice, so expect better efforts from the passing game when these teams meet again in two weeks at the Apple Bowl.

Zyla apparently was reluctant to move from the defensive side of the ball so time will tell if he is under centre again, as he would prefer a full-time role in the secondary. Sun starter Jacob Loucks has not led the Sun offence since being injured just before halftime two weeks ago against the Rebels, no word on when or if he is expected back. Second year pivot Matthew Mahler who went the distance against the Huskers last week didn’t see action against the Rams even while Zyla struggled.

If Loucks isn’t back soon do the Sun bring in another quarterback?

7…That’s the number of times the Rams tried to run the ball against the Sun. Sign of confidence against the secondary or overt respect for the Sun front 7?

Out in the PFC, Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant told his starters before his club’s 59-1 blowout over the Calgary Colts that he “Didn’t want to see them play in the second half”. I like that…and apparently they listened as the Hilltops were cruising 45-0 at the break

Warren Henderson, who covered the Okanagan Sun and the rest of the BCFC as a reporter for the Kelowna Capital News retired last week. The Sun and the conference lost a gem of a reporter who did a terrific job covering our game the past 20 plus years. Thanks Warren

Monday Musings is for opinion purposes only and does not represent the views of the BCFC or its member teams. If there is something you would like to see discussed in Musings, text me 250-212-2888