Westshore Rebels head coach J.C. Boice predicted beforehand that if his defence could hold the Kamloops Broncos to 30 points or less they would chalk up their second win of the B.C. Football Conference season.
They came that close in a wild, last-minute 37-36 defeat on a windswept, wet afternoon at Westhills Stadium on Saturday.
Unfortunately for the hosts, Jacob Palmarin made up for an earlier fumble as the bruising Broncos back scored from five yards out with just 1:02 to go for the winning score.
You could not blame the defence for the loss, however, after a gritty game that involved many solid performances.
Joe Barkhouse had an interception for the Rebels and added a 48-yard touchdown reception, one of three second-half TD passes for quarterback Ashton Mackinnon.
Defensively, James Bradley had seven tackles, a quarterback sack and a fumble recovery.
“Our defence played outstanding football for us,” said a proud Boice.
“Again, we are very young, but our kids are responding. They aren’t laying down. They continue to fight.
“There is a lot to build on here and I hate that we lost for the home crowd [of 600], but our kids are believing. Good things are happening.
“The defence’s improvement is getting substantial and, you can quote me on this, James Bradley will be in the CFL soon. He is a dude,” Boice said.
Mackinnon also had a 42-yard catch on a trick play with Talyn Davies; scored on a one-yard run; and caught a two-point conversion on another trick play with Hunter Lake that gave the Rebels a 36-30 lead with just 2:45 to go. Lake made a diving 25-yard TD catch to set up the late scenario.
Eric Williams (31-yard catch) and Jordan Worth (three-yard run) had the other majors for Westshore, now 1-5.
Palmarin had two TDs for 4-2 Kamloops, while quarterback Stephen Schuweiler ran for one major and threw for another to Derek Yachison.
What really hurt the Rebels was an allowed safety touch in the third quarter and an 85-yard score by Austin Semeniuk on a reverse off a kickoff return to start the fourth.
“We gave up those two points offensively [safety touch] and we have to stop doing stuff like that,” Boice said.
But there were far more positives.
“So close. It just shows you what we can do when we execute,” Lake said.
“These past couple of weeks we’ve been banged up. We were down like half a roster and we kept up with one of the better teams. We don’t feel bad about this game at all.
“People don’t know how good this football team will be. It’s getting there. It was just a couple of plays.”
mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com
Twitter/tc_vicsports
