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Stocked with mostly former Okanagan Sun players, the Kelowna Blues won their second Kelowna Maybowl (Touch) Football Tournament Top Flight Division championship in the past four years with a 26-13 decision over the Vancouver Raiders on Sunday.
The Blues, the first Kelowna team to win a Top Flight Division touch football title in 2015, took control of this year’s final early on and put the game away late in the second half when veteran quarterback Greg Patchell connected with Eric Glavic, a two-time Hec Creighton trophy winner (CIS) from 20 yards out.
The win avenged a 35-34 loss to the Raiders in the Blues’ first game of the 38th annual tournament that saw 20 teams from throughout Western Canada competing. Vancouver won that round-robin encounter on the final play of the game.
A 48-22 victory over the Edmonton Whalers got the Blues on the winning track while they upset the Edmonton Frost 43-42 in quarter-final play. The Frost, who defeated the Blues in last year’s final, featured Scott Coleman, a former CFL/NFL receiver/kick returner who took a flight to Kelowna late Saturday to play in Sunday’s playoff games.
Patchell threw a touchdown pass to Mike Pullin with three plays remaining to tie the game at 42 while he found former Sun quarterback, Josiah Joseph (University of Calgary), at the back of the endzone for the winning point.
A 35-23 win over the Vancouver Rams in semifinal play earned the Blues their berth in the final while the Raiders downed the Edmonton Whalers 26-21 in the other semi.
Ex-Sun, Brennan Van Nistelrooy (University of Calgary) and Kyle Patchell (University of Manitoba) led the team with six TDs each while Pullin scored five and Liam Wishart (Sun, UBC), four.
Greg Patchell threw 22 touchdowns while giving up just three interceptions. Glavic contributed two touchdown passes and Kyle Patchell tossed another.
Jesse Warawa and Van Nistelrooy were cited for their outstanding play in every game on defence while Tryone Kane, a former St. Mary’s Huskies defensive back, and Cody Patchell (a recent Luxembourg First Division rugby player) both had key interceptions and Lerone Robinson (Sun, St. Mary’s) was a lockdown rusher in Sunday's playoff games.
The Kelowna Shockers, made up of all ex-Okanagan Sun players, defeated the Winnipeg Dogs in the Intermediate Final for a Kelowna sweep of the top two divisions.
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