The Westshore Rebels will try to play spoiler on the Okanagan Sun’s so-far undefeated season in the B.C. Football Conference championship game Saturday for the Cullen Cup at the Apple Bowl in Kelowna.
The second-seed Rebels were 7-3 in the regular season and blanked the third-seed Valley Huskers of Chilliwack (also 7-3 in the regular season) 34-0 in their playoff semifinal game last Sunday at Starlight Stadium.
The regular-season champion Sun (10-0) defeated the fourth-place Langley Rams (5-5), the defending Canadian Bowl champions, 44-20 in the other semifinal game in Kelowna to guarantee there will be a new national junior football champion this season.
The Sun swept both games against Westshore this season. The first meeting was a 65-29 blowout victory by Okanagan on Aug. 13 at the Apple Bowl. The second game was a much closer affair with the Sun rallying from 15 points down to edge Westshore 34-31 on Sept. 10 at Starlight Stadium.
Westshore will rely on the arm of quarterback Te Jessie, who was named BCFC offensive player of the year. He will be throwing to Kieran Poissant, named the league’s top receiver on the season, and Zion Brown, named the BCFC offensive rookie of the year. Running-back Gerren Hardisty has carried the load on the ground for the Rebels. Okanagan’s speciality teams are always a threat with Mike O’Shea named BCFC kick returner of the year.
The BCFC Cullen Cup champion Saturday will play the Ontario Football Conference champion next Saturday in the national semifinal with the winner advancing to the Canadian Bowl national championship game to be hosted Nov. 12 by the champion of the Prairie Football Conference.
