VAN. ISLAND 57 WESTSHORE 7
It was a big rushing day - for Ashton Galloway and not Greg Morris.
It was an even bigger passing performance for Jordan Yantz as the Vancouver Island Raiders had their way with the West-shore Rebels at Caledonia Park in Nanaimo on Saturday afternoon.
Yantz threw for five touchdown passes as the Raiders trashed the Rebels 57-7 to complete a second straight undefeated B.C.
Football Conference season, this time with a 9-0-1 mark.
Westshore slides to 7-3 and, combined with the Langley Rams' 48-6 victory over the Okanagan Sun on Saturday, will now have to travel to the mainland for BCFC playoff action next weekend.
"It was a slow start, and you can't have a slow start against those guys," said Rebels defensive co-ordinator Scott Mennie. "Playing behind in Nanaimo gets you in trouble.
"So we head to Langley, and that's where our focus has to be. Flush it down the toilet and start over."
The Rebels will meet Langley while the Raiders host the Sun in semifinal play.
Saturday's outing was a mismatch early as the Raiders opened up a 17-0 lead in the opening 15 minutes, a quarter in which the Rebels did not manage a single first down.
Morris - requiring just seven yards to surpass former Raiders' run-ningback and current B.C.
Lions' star Andrew Harris for second most yards rushing in a BCFC season - did not get untracked.
Galloway had a solid outing with 65 yards in the opening half alone.
Morris, who required 122 yards to set a new BCFC season standard, had just 11 yards rushing on six carries in the opening half and finished with roughly 60 on the day.
Yantz connected with Dustin Pedersen for an 11-yard touchdown pass on the opening drive. Mark Mueller added a 28-yard field goal, and Yantz then hooked up with Matt Sawyer on a nine-yard TD pass for a 17-0 lead.
Having set a new Canadian Junior Football League record for passing yards in a season on his first completion of the game, a 15-yarder in which he only required 14, Yantz continued to go to work in the second quarter.
The talented 22-year-old quarterback combined with Michael Schaper for two 10-yard TD catches to make it 31-0 in the second.
The Rebels, meanwhile, finally recorded a first down when backup QB Jesse Herman connected with Hunter Lake late in the half.
Herman moved the Rebels to the Raiders' six-yard line with nine seconds left in the second quarter but promptly threw an interception.
The second half was more of the same as Yantz and Schaper added a 65-yard TD strike and Mueller chipped in with a second field goal for a 41-0 advantage.
Mike Dumesnil, the fourth QB of the day for the Rebels, finally broke the goose egg with a 52yard touchdown pass to Cat Todor-ovich to make it 41-7. Todor-ovich also
saw some time at QB for Westshore.
Raiders backup quarterback J.J. Mraovic added two touchdown passes late, one to Schaper (for his fourth of the afternoon) and the other to Pedersen for his second. The Rebels also gave up a safety. [email protected] Twitter/tc_vicsports
