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Bye week ahead, Okanagan Sun look to recover from two straight losses

The Sun lost 37-13 to the VI Raiders Saturday
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The Okanagan Sun’s Lawrenzo Dissee is tackled by Vancouver Island Raiders defenders in a 37-13 loss on Aug. 24. (Greg Sakaki - Black Press Media)

After starting the season with two straight wins, the Okanagan Sun have lost conceded their last two games.

The Sun suffered a 37-13 loss to the Vancouver Island Raiders last week in a one-sided match where the locals struggled again on their execution on both sides of the ball.

Sun head coach Jamie Boreham said the team didn’t deal with the distractions that come with a road game.

“We’re not doing the wrong things,” he said.

“We didn’t start the game the way we wanted to and didn’t deal with travel as good football teams are suppose to.

“We’re successful in practice and confident in our game plan ahead of our games, but at the end of the day, our troubles boil down to execution.”

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The troubles that have plagued the team in the two straight losses were further addressed when the Sun’s team captains called a team meeting ahead of practice this week.

With no game this weekend because of the scheduled bye-week, the players hoped that a team meeting would be the best way to take advantage of the time that the team has off ahead of the battle with the conference leading Langley Rams.

“The rest from the bye will be good,” said Boreham.

“We’re going to continue to work. We had a good day (Monday) and after the team meeting, the guys came to practice with a good look and a good work ethic.

“We’re not where we want to be in terms of execution, and the captains got the guys together and said, ‘This isn’t what we do around here.’

“We need to continue to grow as a team, and this is how we do it.”

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Boreham notes that his players are young and it’s the first year of them all playing together.

Cap that off with a brand new coaching staff and these growing pains are to be expected for the Sun.

These trials and tribulations will hopefully be resolved ahead of the Sun’s anticipated game with the Rams.

The rematch comes almost a year after Langley knocked the Sun out of the 2018 playoffs with a 39-7 victory.

Okanagan’s bye week alongside the camaraderie gained through the team meeting aims to be a big factor if the Sun hope to be successful against the Rams.

Boreham said the Sun will need to bring their best when the two teams meet Sept. 8.

“If you want to measure your team and see where you’re at, this is the team you do it against,” he said.

“We’ve been working towards the Rams game since (Monday). We will be asking our guys to be better in practice and we gotta fight for it a little bit better.”

The Sun host the Rams on Sept. 8, 1 p.m., at the Apple Bowl.

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