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A pair of unbeaten Kelowna Minor Football Association teams have their sights set on a provincial nine-man championship in Kamloops this weekend.
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The Kelowna Lions will take their perfect record into the B.C. Community Football Association junior bantam playoffs on Saturday, while the Kelowna Riders — also at 10-0 for the season — will represent the Southern Interior Football Conference in the atom division.
A 48-0 victory over the visiting Salmon Arm Chargers on Sunday at the CNC’s Mission Stadium capped the flawless SIFC season for the Lions and earned the junior bantam team the right to play for a provincial title against the Northern B.C. (Prince George) and Vancouver -area (Richmond) representatives at Hillside Stadium.
The three teams will play each other in 30-minute round-robin games, while the top two teams from that playdown will meet in the championship game at 7:30 p.m.
In the SIFC final on Sunday, the Lions came through with what head coach Kendall Gross considered their best game of the season. Led by quarterback Nate Beauchemin, the Lions accumulated about 330 yards, with the shifty pivot contributing two early touchdowns to what turned out to be a lopsided affair.
Tariq Brown added a touchdown reception and led the Lions on defence with five solo tackles and Bronte Gallo also stood out by scoring a TD and leading the blocking to set up several offensive thrusts.
“It was a total team effort — on offence, defence and special teams,” said coach Gross. “Everyone played to their potential on every down. Now we’re hoping to continue that trend at provincials.”
Meanwhile in atom-division play, Kelowna Riders’ head coach, Lance Kayfish, said he was proud of his whole team following a 22-0 win over the Kelowna Lions (7-3) in the SIFC final on Sunday.
“This squad played hard and kept improving all season long,” added Kayfish. “Being 8-and 9-year-olds it’s impressive that we averaged about seven pass completions per contest. We were able to use more diversity in our offence than I’ve seen from any team in three years of coaching atom football.
“That’s pretty special when you consider that our defence really led the way to this undefeated this season with heads-up play and never giving up until the final whistle blew.”
The Riders will also play in a three-team round-robin provincial preliminary round in Kamloops, with the top two teams meeting in a championship game on Saturday.
The other provincial title up for grabs in Kamloops will be in the peewee division where the Kamloops Broncos are the SIFC representatives. They defeated the Kelowna Lions in the conference final on Sunday.
Photo Gallery (53 photos) on KelownaNow's Facebook page
Photo Gallery (53 photos) on KelownaNow's Facebook page
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