It was a lucrative Halloween weekend for the Vernon Panthers.
The Cats’ football squad won the Interior AA Senior Varsity Conference title, which also means a first-round playoff bye and a home playoff date.
All three were collected Friday, Oct. 28, on a windy afternoon in Kamloops as the Panthers claimed the Interior AA Senior Varsity Conference Championship with a 31-14 victory over the South Kamloops Titans. The victory was thanks, in large part, to the play of Vernon’s offensive line, which cut numerous holes in the Titan’s defensive line for Panthers runners to scamper through.
Vernon tailback Joe Murphy registered his second straight 200-plus yard game on the ground, tallying 255 yards on 18 carries (14.1 yards per carry). He would score the game’s first two touchdowns including the opening major of the game – a 21-yard romp.
“The wind was really strong from the south the entire game and we opened with the wind in our faces…so we knew we’d have to run it if we wanted to win,” said Panthers’ head coach Sean Smith. “Fortunately, our offensive line was, once again, opening up holes for Joe which allowed us to control the ball for long stretches. I think we’ve (historically) been known as a passing team so it’s nice to know that we can run the ball when called upon.”
The Cats got off to a shaky start when an errant Braden Khunkhun pass was intercepted on their opening drive. However, the hosts couldn’t convert the turnover to points when a 30-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right.
The miscue lit a fire in the visitors and the Panthers would go on to score five straight majors en route to a 31-0 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Defensively, the Cats’ defence was able to hold South Kam off the board well into the fourth quarter.
Scotty Hoffman was all over the field and led all tacklers with a season high 12.5, while Cisko Hove and Terry Johnson contributed 4.5 apiece and a sack.
“We had a fairly complicated defensive game plan in place with, somewhat, limited time to implement it this week. I was really proud of my guy’s ability to execute it at a very high level,” said Smith. “Khunkhun did a great job quarterbacking our offence and our defence today. He had a lot of calls and adjustments to make and he put our guys in the right spots to make plays on both sides of the ball.”
Khunkhun would call his own number twice on rushing touchdowns of 1 and 16 yards. Hoffman and Mitchell Bond rounded out the scoring as both were on the receiving end of a 20-yard (Hoffman) and 40-yard (Bond) Khunkhun touchdown pass.
The Panthers wrap up the Interior Conference schedule with a home date against the Salmon Arm Golds on November 4th – 7 p.m. at Greater Vernon Athletic Park. As conference champions, the Panthers earned a first round playoff bye and will host either the Fulton Maroons or South Kam in the provincial quarterfinals.
Smith thinks his team still has plenty of work to do.
“The one area that we have been exposed two weeks in a row is our extra point protection,” he said. “We had trouble last week against Fulton and we missed two of three today…. and our lack of protection forced us to go for two (unsuccessfully) twice. We need to clean this up or it will cost us a playoff game.”
In exhibition play, the Fulton Maroons visited Omak, Wash. for a game against the Pioneers, and fell 52-0 to the host team, which is 8-1 on the year. Fulton will host South Kamloops Friday, Nov. 4, at 4:30 p.m. at GVAP, the front end of a Friday night twinbill at GVAP.
JUNIOR VARSITY
In JV play, VSS also took care of South Kamloops, but only by three points. The Cats edged South Kam 38-35.
Fulton Maroons were also three-point winners over a Kamloops team, 16-13 for the Maroons over the Westsyde Blue Wave.
The Battle of Vernon, Junior Varsity style, goes Thursday, Nov. 3, at Greater Vernon Athletic Park at 4 p.m. when the Maroons host VSS.
Pleasant Valley Hawks of Armstrong will play the Golds in Salmon Arm.
This story was updated Monday, Oct. 31, at 1:42 p.m. to correct location of Battle of Vernon JV game
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roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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