Morning Star Staff
A slow start didn’t prevent the host Vernon Panthers from dispatching the Robert Bateman Timberwolves of Abbotsford 27-7 in exhibition senior varsity AA football Friday night at Greater Vernon Athletics Park.
After spotting the T-wolves a first-drive touchdown on a pass from former Panther product Keegan Vickland, the Cats settled down and controlled the rest of the game.
“We were on our heels for a lot of the first quarter,” said VSS coach Sean Smith. “Bateman came out firing and pushed us around for the first couple of drives. After we made some defensive adjustments and got some of the first game rust off, we played lock-down defence.”
Tight end/defensive end Ben Hladik, who earlier in the week became UBC Thunderbirds’ first player in their 2017 recruiting class, was a man amongst boys. He hauled in three touchdown receptions (15, 35 and 50 yards) and 179 yds receiving from rookie grade 10 signal caller Thomas Hyett.
The highlight-reel was a 50-yard catch and run that sealed things in the fourth quarter.
Josh Hyer (who has verbally committed to play at the University of Calgary Dinos) also proved why he was a CIS recruit, contributing eight tackles to go along with six catches for 76 yards.
“Those two guys did exactly what I expected of them in our first game,” said Smith. “They controlled the edges and provided big targets in our passing game. Both have put in a lot of time in the off-season to get stronger and better. Their hard work paid off.”
Hyett, who was starting his first senior game, picked apart the Bateman defence in the second half. The rookie aired it out for 274 yards completing 17 of 25 passes.
“I was really happy with Hyett’s performance today,” said Smith. “They played cover two almost exclusively and he learned to take what they were giving him. He hit the corner route a few times with great passes and got the ball to our big men and let them make things happen in open space.”
The Panther defence was led by senior Tyler Semeniuk with 14 tackles, and Grade 10 Charles Lemay, with nine.
Senior fullback/defensive tackle Tyler Riva rounded out the scoring with a five-yard TD plunge in the fourth quarter.
“While I was happy with our performance on both sides of the ball, we were not as balanced as I’d like to be on offence. We only gained 63 yards on the ground on 18 carries. To be effective I think we have to get to a 60:40 ratio run to pass. We were a bit pass heavy.”
The Panthers, who are ranked No. 8 in B.C., take on the No. 3 John Barsby Bulldogs Saturday at Merle Logan Stadium in Nanaimo. The Cats will host the Abbotsford Panthers Saturday, Sept. 24.
Meanwhile, the Fulton Maroons lost 29-14 to the host Salmon Arm Golds in exhibition play Friday night.
The Golds went ahead 22-8 at the half. Ryan Rumsey, on a five-yard rush in the first quarter, and Caden Doyle, on an 85-yard kickoff return in the third quarter, handled the Fulton scoring.
Ike Olson completed 7-of-25 passes for 86 yards with Doyle catching three for 45 yards, Jeff Han hauling in two aerials for 17 yards and Teigan Derkach making two catches for 22 yards.
Rumsey had 10 touches for 40 rushing yards, while Cole Hunter racked up 24 yards on three carries.
Rumsey recorded seven tackles, while Doyle and Andrew Goldenthal each earned five and Eric Yildiz had four. Goldenthal and Hunter each registered two sacks.
"We had a lot of positive things happen in this game and we played better in the second half," said Fulton head coach Mike Scheller. "It was a one-touchdown game for most of the first and second halves. Offensively, we had some good drives, but we had too many penalties on offence in the first half to be effective.
"Defensively, our kids played well and gave us the ball back a couple times on downs. They covered the pass pretty well. We just gave too many big runs. We would hold them and then we would break down and give up 50. Our kids will improve."
Fulton makes their annual trek to Washington, playing Omak Friday at 4 p.m. and taking in the college game Saturday between Washington State Cougars and the Idaho State Bengals in Puhlman.