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With reinforcements strategically in place against the Rutland Voodoos in Week 2 of AAA exhibition play, the Kelowna Owls looked a lot like the team their coaching staff had predicted going into the 2019 B.C. Secondary School Football Association season.
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Isaac Athans settled in as quarterback after missing the team’s opening exhibition game a week earlier and lifted the Owls to a loftier level en route to a 42-0 mastery of the crosstown-rival Voodoos at CNC.
Athans tested his right wing early, hitting wide receiver Nolan Ulm with a 30-yard pass on the first play of the game. The subsequent drive resulted in the QB running in for the Owls’ initial touchdown of the game.
The Grade 12 student/athlete went on to complete eight of 16 passes for 206 yards which included two TD passes — to Ulm and Tariq Brown. Athans also rushed for 37 yards and two majors on the day.
Ulm finished with 97 yards receiving while Brown took care of the KSS ground game behind the bulked-up offensive line that included Dylan McBratney and Jack Marsland, both of whom missed the Owls’ opening loss to the No. 1-ranked Vancouver College Fighting Irish a week earlier.
Brown followed the blocks and manufactured his own open spaces among the scattered Voodoos to cover 112 yards on just nine carries while scoring along the turf from five yards out.
On defence, fortified by the addition of defensive back Nate Beauchemin, who was also on the sidelines in Vancouver against the Irish, the Owls were at their stingy best against the Rutland team that had moved the ball at will (52-14) against AA Clarence Fulton Maroons a week earlier.
As was the case in the Owls’ game against Van College, Nathan Gilbert led the Black and Gold with 11 tackles and a sack.
KSS head coach, Chris Cartwright, acknowledged the win over the Voodoos was a good way to transition into the regular schedule that begins on Friday when the Owls play host to Eastern Conference rival Abbotsford Panthers, listed at No. 7 in the provincial rankings.
“We were very proud of the way the boys bounced back. They executed well in all phases of the game, but we still need to clean up some stuff on the offensive line.”
Looking ahead to the Abby game on at the Apple Bowl (4 p.m.), Cartwright knows his team has to be more disciplined against a big Panthers squad than it was against Rutland.
“We have to stay away from needless and costly penalties. Abbotsford has a lot of good athletes who can hurt you, so we can’t give them any free yardage.”
Cartwright will be counting on his team to utilize its speed and to be technically sound against the favoured Panthers. The return of the versatile Noah Gross, who has missed both KSS games due to injury, should help in both areas.
Meanwhile, the Voodoos hope to regroup in their final exhibition that will double as their homecoming game at the Apple Bowl on Friday against the South Kamloops Titans beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Pete McCall, the Voodoos’ head coach, said playing the bigger and more physical Eastern Conference AAA Owls was an important wakeup call.
“Our guys had ample servings of humble pie,” he added. “I think we were overconfident after having had some success against KSS in the spring jamboree (in June) and we thought we could just show up. We were mistaken.
“It’s only Week 2 of exhibition, so we can grow from this. Adversity reveals character . . . we need look inside and find out what we are made of.
“This was the best thing that could have happened to us at this point of the year.”
In the other exhibition game on the weekend involving a Central Okanagan team, the Mt. Boucherie Bears, playing in the Pacific Division South this season, dropped their second straight pre-season contest — 21-15 to the Earl Marriott Mariners (Pacific Division North) in Surrey.
The Bears will begin regular-season play Sept. 27 against Sardis at Exhibition Stadium. Their first home game is set for Oct. 12 at Mar Jok Elementary School in West Kelowna against Eric Hamber Griffins of Vancouver.
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