Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Westshore Rebels reload after BCFC bye week

Host Kamloops Broncos on Saturday
web1_vka-rebels-1582
Tre Jesse will lead the Rebels against the Broncos on Saturday at Starlight Stadium. (DARREN STONE, TIMES COLONIST)

The Westshore Rebels had plenty to think about during their bye week, which came after their first loss of the B.C. Football Conference season, a 65-29 drubbing two weeks ago in Kelowna at the hands of the league-leading Okanagan Sun.

Rested and refocused, the Rebels (3-1) meet the Kamloops Broncos (2-2) today at 4 p.m. at Starlight Stadium in Langford.

“We had a great week of ­practice and are ready to go,” said Westshore head coach Shane Beatty.

“We didn’t get off the bus in the Okanagan. But that’s in the past. We want to show we are back and ready to go again. We are going to be coming after them [Broncos].”

Westshore quarterback ­Te Jessie comes into the game with 1,094 passing yards, second to and only five yards behind leading Dom Britton’s 1,099 yards with the Sun. The six-foot-two, 250-pound Jessie is out of the Carleton University Ravens of U Sports and is the son of former Washington Super Bowl-champion and Winnipeg Blue Bombers Grey Cup-champion running-back Tim Jessie, who played in the backfield of the Auburn University Tigers with Bo Jackson.

“[Te] Jessie is so composed, with a strong arm, and he has taken over the leadership,” said Beatty.

“He wants to win. He is a competitor.”

Broncos starting signal-caller Reid Vankoughnett was ahead of Jessie on the Carleton depth chart in U Sports, ­lending an added dimension to this week’s quarterbacking match-up between the former university teammates.

Jessie’s favourite receiver on the Rebels has been Kieran ­Poissant, a BCFC all-star last season who seems to be headed for the same this year. Poissant leads the league in three categories with 20 receptions for 393 yards and five touchdown catches and his accolades may go beyond just the league this season.

“He’s going to be ­all-Canadian,” predicted Beatty.

“[Poissant] is big, fast and physical and without an ego.”

The clubs will get to know each other as the Rebels and Broncos meet again next week at Hillside Stadium in Kamloops.

The Vancouver Island Raiders (1-4), coming off a 58-1 loss to the first-place Sun last weekend, are at McLeod Park in Langley today to take on the defending national junior-champion Rams (1-3). Raiders quarterback Ben Chomolok is third in league passing with 1,061 yards.

The Prince George Kodiaks (1-3) are at the Apple Bowl in Kelowna today to meet the undefeated Sun (4-0) and quarterback Britton, the B.C. Lions BCFC offensive player of the week two weeks running for his ­successive performances against the Rebels and Raiders, respectively. The expansion Kodiaks won the first game in franchise history last week in upsetting the Valley Huskers of Chilliwack (3-2) by a 28-20 count.

cdheensaw@timescolonist.com