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Westshore's Jessie comes out on top in BCFC quarterback derby between friends

WESTSHORE 49 KAMLOOPS 7 Westshore Rebels quarterback Te Jessie had a Super Bowl and Grey Cup champion running back, dad Tim Jessie, to learn from while growing up. And who also played in the backfield of the Auburn University Tigers with Bo Jackson.
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VICTORIA, B.C.:AUGUST 27, 2022- Westshore Rebels Dolani Robinson brings down Kamloops Broncos Colton Meikle in BCFC action at Starlight Stadium in Victoria, B.C. on August 27, 2022. (DARREN STONE, TIMES COLONIST). For Sports story by Cleve Dheensaw.

WESTSHORE 49 KAMLOOPS 7

Westshore Rebels quarterback Te Jessie had a Super Bowl and Grey Cup champion running back, dad Tim Jessie, to learn from while growing up. And who also played in the backfield of the Auburn University Tigers with Bo Jackson.

“My dad told me to work hard and just be me,” said Te Jessie.

The younger Jessie was just that on Saturday, being his best self, throwing four touchdown passes and running for another in a 49-7 B.C. Football Conference victory by Westshore over the Kamloops Broncos at Starlight Stadium in Langford.

After the game, the two starting quarterbacks hugged on the field. The Rebels’ Jessie and Broncos starting signal-caller Reid Vankoughnett grew up together in Winnipeg and were teammates on the Carleton Ravens roster in U Sports. Not only that, but Vankoughnett’s dad, Dave Vankoughnett, was a teammate of the elder Jessie on the Blue Bombers as an 11-season CFL offensive lineman for Winnipeg.

“We are both from Winnipeg and grew up playing against each other, and both ended up at Carleton, and are close,” said Reid Vankoughnett.

Adding another familial layer, the Broncos’ head coach is Reid’s brother, Braden Vankoughnett.

Westshore moved to 4-1 while Kamloops fell to 2-3. “[The Rebels] played well,” said Vankoughnett.

The Rebels rebounded resoundingly from their first loss of the season, a 65-29 drubbing two weeks ago in Kelowna at the hands of the league-leading Okanagan Sun, before their bye week.

“We are coming together as a unit and getting to know each other,” said Jessie. “But we are still taking too many penalties.”

That was a refrain heard from Westshore head coach Shane Beatty: “We had too many penalties. We are very athletic but still need to play better and faster. It should have been 65-7 today.”

The clubs meet again next Saturday at Hillside Stadium in Kamloops. Saturday’s win will mean nothing then, warned Beatty: “It’s travel and that’s different.”

In keeping with the Winnipeg theme, current Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea was in Kelowna on Saturday watching his son and BCFC star player, Michael O’Shea, lead the Okanagan Sun (5-0) to a 35-0 victory over the Prince George Kodiaks (1-4) at the Apple Bowl.

The Vancouver Island Raiders of Nanaimo (1-5) were beaten 24-13 at McLeod Park in Langley on Saturday by the defending national junior-champion Rams (2-3).

The Valley Huskers of Chilliwack (3-2) had the weekly BCFC bye.

cdheensaw@timescolonist.com