One more win and the Vernon Panthers can travel an hour further west along the Trans-Canada Highway.
The Panthers crushed the Westsyde Blue Wave of Kamloops 67-0 in B.C. High School AA Junior Varsity Football League quarterfinal action Wednesday, Nov. 15, at Greater Vernon Athletic Park.
The win moves VSS to the provincial semifinals Wednesday, Nov. 22, where they will travel to Abbotsford to play the Robert Bateman Timberwolves of the host city. The winner advances to the B.C. AA JV championship game Saturday, Dec. 2, at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver.
The Timberwolves defeated the South Kamloops Titans 20-7 in quarterfinal action play.
The other final four matchup has the Holy Cross Crusaders of Surrey facing the Ballenas Whalers of Parksville. Holy Cross defeated the Argyle Pipers of North Vancouver 14-12 while the Whalers harpooned the John Barsby Bulldogs of Nanaimo 36-0.
SENIOR VARSITY
The Vernon Panthers are two wins away from a trip to the provincial senior AA varsity final.
Sean Smith’s Cats, ranked No. 2 in B.C., will host the South Kamloops Titans Friday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m. at Greater Vernon Athletic Park in quarterfinal AA action.
The two teams met at GVAP Nov. 3 to end the regular season with the Panthers scratching out a 28-10 victory over the Titans squad. It will be the final home game for Vernon’s graduating Grade 12s.
“It’s always tough to get two wins in a season against a tough opponent that you just played two weeks ago, but that’s what we’ve got ahead of us in the quarterfinals,” said Panthers head coach Sean Smith to Bernie Crumb, author of the B.C. Secondary School Football Newsletter.
“JP (South Kamloops head coach Lancaster) had a great game plan and had his team playing at a high level in our first match, and in my mind the score was not indicative of how tightly contested the game was for most of the contest. If we want to get another win against South Kamloops, we’re going to have to cut down on our penalties, turnovers and dropped balls.
“Hopefully the last game was a wake up call for my boys and we have a stronger start than we did last time.”
Friday night’s winner will play the winner of a quarterfinal matchup between the Nechako Valley Vikings of Vanderhoof and the Westsyde Blue Wave of Kamloops in a provincial semifinal Saturday, Nov. 25, at B.C. Place.
The other Friday quarterfinals have the top-ranked Robert Bateman Timberwolves taking on the Windsor Dukes of North Vancouver, and the John Barsby Bulldogs up against Holy Cross.
The B.C. Senior Varsity AA championship will be contested Saturday, Dec. 2.
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