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While the all-purpose Jhavoun Blake remained in the spotlight throughout the Rutland Voodoos’ fourth straight B.C. Secondary School Football Association win at the Apple Bowl on Friday, a good portion of his teammates shared a significant portion of it.
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Blake, the Grade 11 quarterback/free safety and kick returner, covered 70 yards on eight carries, completed six of 18 throws for 62 yards and threw a pair of touchdown passes in the 48-8 Pacific Division decision over the visiting Eric Hamber Griffins of Vancouver. He capped the lopsided home opener by recovering a fumble on the Rutland one-yard line in the fourth quarter and running it back 100 yards for the final Voodoos TD.
For good measure, Blake, coming off a 209-yard running game a week earlier, picked off two Eric Hamber passes and finished with three solo tackles.
Grade 12 Chase Schumacher proved the most impressive of the solid Voodoos supporting cast against the Griffins, rushing for 123 yards on 13 carries and scoring five touchdowns — four along the ground (the longest from 37 yards out) and another on a 21-yard catch-and-run.
He also shone on defence, made three solo tackles, charged through for a sack and recovering a fumble.
Rounding out the scoring in a game that saw the Voodoos take an 18-0 lead in the first quarter and widening the gap to 32-8 by the half, was Grade 10 Coltin Peterson, who took one step into the endzone after catching a 19-yard strike from Blake. Senior Dalton Lucas chipped in with three pass receptions for 27 yards.
Rutland head coach, Pete McCall, said his team executed the game plan on offence to near perfection.
“Despite having only 19 players dressed, we were able to feed Chase (Schumacher) the ball, and with our big men up front dominating the trenches and creating seams, he did the rest.”
Defensively, the diminutive Prince Manongdo was a mini monster for the Voodoos, leading the way with seven tackles to go along with three tackles and two sacks by Bear Akachuk.
Schumacher recorded three tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery while Austin Yuros contributed four tackles. Justin Kuhn and Caleb Aitkin both had a pair of solos and a sack.
Although conceding his defence gave up more pass completions than he would have liked, coach McCall said the Voodoos did a better job than in the previous three wins.
He lauded the play of his six seniors — Aitkin, Schumacher, Akachuk, Lucas, Jared Pimiskern and Isaac Luk.
“They all continue to play Rutland Ironman ball, rarely taking a snap off. It’s been quite a feat of courage and toughness,” McCall said.
The Voodoos will travel to Sardis on Friday for a meeting with the Sardis Falcons (2-1), who are expected to be another tough test for Rutland’s pass defence.
Meanwhile, the Kelowna Owls, playing in the tougher Eastern Conference, lost 29-10 to the host Abbotsford Panthers on Friday.
The Owls’ only touchdown came from Anthony Kurkjian, who caught a seven-yard touchdown pass from Isaac Athans.
KSS head coach, Chris Cartwright, was disappointed in the lack of bounce-back from his team, humbled by the No. 2-ranked Terry Fox Ravens a week earlier.
“At the end of the day, the only word I can come up with in our performance is deflated,” Cartwright said. “We thought after a hard-fought game against Fox that we would gain some confidence . . . that we are a good football team that can compete with anyone. Today, we did not see that fire on offence or defence.”
The Owls are back on the road on Friday, busing to Coquitlam to take on the Centennial Centaurs. Kelowna’s next home game at the Apple Bowl is scheduled for Oct. 12 against the No. 1-ranked Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers beginning at 6:30 p.m.
A young injury-plagued Mt. Boucherie Bears squad couldn’t contain the Mission Roadrunners’ running game and gave up more than 40 points in a second straight Eastern Conference matchup.
Mission’s Keegan Royal and Matt Roadhouse rushed for 117 and 113 yards respectively against the Bears in a 42-8 victory at the Apple Bowl on Friday.
The Bears will go for their first win on Friday when they play host to the Abbotsford Panthers at the Apple Bowl beginning at 6 p.m.
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