A moment of silence will be held, in tribute to Queen Elizabeth, before today’s B.C. Football Conference game at Starlight Stadium.
After that, the host Westshore Rebels (5-1) hope to make some noise against the nationally top-ranked Okanagan Sun (5-0) in a marquee match-up for first place at 4 p.m.
The Rebels remember well their first game against the Sun, and only loss of the season, in a 65-29 blowout Aug. 13 at the Apple Bowl in Kelowna.
Being at Starlight Stadium will level the field a bit more.
But Sun offensive threat Mike O’Shea Jr., son of Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea, is dangerous in so many aspects of the game, including as a receiver and kick and punt returner, the latter in which he averages 20.7 yards per punt return with three touchdowns.
“They have a great quarterback [Dom Britton] and huge offensive line, and their defence is sound, so we have to play a perfect game against the Sun,” said Rebels head coach Shane Beatty.
Westshore answers with quarterback Te Jessie, who leads the league with 1,598 yards passing and 16 touchdowns. But with three of the Rebels’ top receivers out, it was the ground game that came through with running-back Gerren Hardisty rushing for 205 yards on 18 carries for Westshore in last weekend’s 32-27 victory over the Broncos at Hillside Stadium in Kamloops.
“Hardisty is such a hard runner,” said Beatty.
“And he ran behind an offensive line that was pretty banged up and I’m so proud of them.”
With the Westshore receivers still tender, although two starters will return for today, look for Hardisty to play another big role.
“Gerren is very explosive and dynamic,” said Rebels offensive coordinator Rob Lervold.
“When he cuts, he explodes off the cuts, in both directions.”
Quarterback Jessie, meanwhile, showed his caginess despite being without his top recievers in the last game. With the Kamloops defence worrying about Hardisty’s running, Jessie sprayed the ball around for touchdowns passes to Zion Brown-Dogbee, Cairo Berry and Ignacio Solorzano while running across himself for another major.
“[Jessie] does a great job of distributing the ball,” said Lervold.
Meanwhile, the Vancouver Island Raiders (1-5) come off their bye week, and a major theft of over $50,000 of equipment and uniforms when their locker-room was broken into this week, to host the Valley Huskers of Chilliwack (3-2) today at 5:30 p.m. at the Nanaimo District Secondary School field.
Lervold, also president of the Rebels, said the rest of the league will offer whatever support it can to help the Raiders regroup and to finish out the season.
cdheensaw@timescolonist.com
