Eric Eggleston called it a “decent little game,” which is akin to describing Niagara Falls as a little run of rushing water.
The fourth-year Westshore Rebels receiver hauled in 10 catches for 199 yards and three touchdowns, including a last-second Hail Mary TD pass from backup quarterback Mark Black to set up what would have been the tying score in a road B.C. Football Conference outing against the Kamloops Broncos last Saturday.
“Last play, Hail Mary, I caught it and then we got our hearts crushed,” Eggleston said of the 37-36 loss, after Kamloops’s Grady Chalmers blocked the convert.
A flag was thrown for too many men on the field against the Broncos, but after a three-minute gathering of referees, the officials opted to pick up the flag and call it a game.
“We put Mark in because he has a cannon [for an arm],” Eggleston recalled of the final scoring play. “On a Haily Mary, you have to win a jump ball. I didn’t win it conventionally. I touched it, it bounced off our hands, bounced off their hands and then I caught it off that bounce. I basically got lucky, but you make your own luck.”
Most of the Rebels’ luck this season has been bad as they sit 1-6 in the standings and it doesn’t get any easier facing the Vancouver Island Raiders tonight at 7 at Westhills Stadium. The 5-2 Raiders are the hottest team in the league with four straight victories.
The Rebels will need a similar performance from Eggleston and Co. this week just to keep it close and their very slim playoff hopes alive.
“It’s tough to be put in that situation where you catch a ball on the last play and you think, ‘At least we’ll get out of here with a tie,’ ” said Eggleston. “Then we make a mistake on the easiest play in football and you come out with a one-point loss.”
Even more devastating was the fact they had another convert blocked earlier in the game, which they fought back in.
“In reality, we could have come out with a 38-37 victory, but we leave with a one-point loss and we leave with our playoff hopes on the thins,” said Eggleston, whose first TD came late in third quarter as he provided the last three Rebels’ scores. His last two came in the final three minutes.
Eggleston hooked up with starting quarterback Hunter Lake on the first two. Lake also threw another TD pass to Josh Beauchamp.
“We rallied just to make it a game, unfortunately it didn’t end the way we’d hoped,” said Eggleston.
Again, it was a gritty effort from the under-manned Rebals, who played with less than 40 players.
“Yeah, 40 guys is pushing it. We might have had 30 healthy bodies at the end,” said Eggleston. “We’ve struggled to come out strongly, but when we’re down, we rally as well as any team in the league. The guys here are warriors.”
Head coach Tim Kearse will vouch for that as many Rebels are playing both on offence and defence.
“You’ve got a guy in Kevin Tupper playing tackle at 190 pounds and [Chris] Pastro is playing centre as well as linebacker all game; you’re not supposed to be able to win football games playing like that,” said Kearse.
Eggleston’s performance was worthy of the BCFC offensive player of the game. The league initially called it a team-record tying performance of 10 catches, but the record book shows Joe Orel nabbed 14 catches for just 118 yards back on Sept. 24, 1995, for the then Vancouver Island Sharks. That performance still stands as a team record and is tied for a BCFC record.
Orel also grabbed 11 catches for 161 yards on Oct. 2, 1995.
Egglestone did tie Tony Vanderleelie (Sept. 13, 1987, for Victoria Payless) and Chris Schaalo (Aug. 6, 2005, for Victoria Rebels) for third-highest club mark. Schaalo also had a 219-yard day in receiving on five catches on Aug. 18, 2007, and every one of those catches went for a touchdown against the Chilliwack Huskers.
