GAME DAY: WESTSHORE AT VAN. ISLAND, 2 P.M.
Pffft! After a record-setting 405-yard rushing performance last weekend, how tough can 122 more yards be?
A mere one-quarter of that effort should be able to push Greg Morris over the top in establishing a new B.C. Football Conference rushing record for yards in a season, right?
It looks reachable - on paper.
But they play football on a field, and it will likely be a wet one as Morris and the 7-2 Westshore Rebels will go looking for the new mark against their hated rival, the 8-0-1 Vancouver Island Raiders, in Nanaimo at 2 p.m. today.
A tough challenge, indeed, but one Morris - who set a new Canadian Junior Football League record for yards in a game with his performance last week - looks forward to.
"It would be great for the Rebels and for myself, but I'm just looking forward to this game," Morris said of breaking Matt Medwick's mark of 1,592 yards in one season that he established in 2000 with the Chilliwack Valley Huskers. "I hope the offence makes it easy for us and the defence just keeps giving us the ball so that we can execute."
How could he possibly top last week, though? Especially in the second half of the 34-32 win in Kamloops in which he ran for more than 300 yards.
"It would be hard, but I would try to top it. I'm the kind of guy that always tries to pass his goals," said the Ontario native. "Yeah, I'm going to try and do it again.
"That record [for yards in a game] is behind me now, though, and the focus is on beating this team in Nanaimo. That's where all the focus is going this week."
Morris is right, there is much more than a record riding on the line as the regular season ends today. The Rebels are hoping to maintain their position in second place to be able to host the Langley Rams in playoff action next weekend. A win in Nanaimo (or a Rams loss vs. the Okanagan Sun) would secure that right.
The trouble is the Rebels have never beaten the Raiders, whose quarterback Jordan Yantz is looking for a Canadian record of his own, requiring just 14 passing yards to reach 3,031 this season.
"We want to go in there and play the best football we've played all year, try and get the win, come back home and treat our fans to a nice playoff game," said Rebels' head coach John Cardilicchia. "And for our-selves, not having to cross the water for the playoffs would be big for us. We're focused on that, gunning for that and expecting that."
And as for all the Morris talk, he's not the only Rebels' record-breaker this season.
Defensive lineman Wyatt Gray - who should receive plenty of consideration as a league all-star - has 9 1 /2 quarterback sacks to break the previous club mark of nine held by Ian Gordon (1987), Lance Griffin (1990) and Adan Merino (1996).
