thenownewspaper.com Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Fax your team’s highlights to Michael Booth at 604-572-6489 or phone 604-572-0064 or e-mail mbooth@thenownewspaper.com
Hornets’ rally nets Tier 2 title
Sports
The Frank Hurt Michael BOOTH Hornets are savouring Sports Editor the sweet taste of success after proving their critics wrong by winning the B.C. Senior Boys’ Football Tier 2 title with a comeback 21-16 win over Victoria’s Belmont Braves at UBC Saturday. “The kids were so excited,” said Hornets coach Duane Linnen. “Guys were crying and jumping around. They couldn’t believe it. This win is so important because nobody gave us a chance this year. To those critics I say the proof is in the pudding. “This win rejuvenates us and will help us come back even more. The school has football fever again.” The top team in the Tier 2 Western Conference, the Hornets got off to a good start in Saturday’s championship game. Running back Jeremy Reid scored on a 68-yard run followed by an 81-yard punt return for a touchdown to give Frank Hurt a 14-6 lead after one quarter. Belmont took the lead in the second quarter with a field goal and a fumble return for a touchdown to head into the break up 16-14. Frank Hurt’s defence took over in the second half, snuffing out the first Braves drive with a fumble recovery by linebacker Aldous Esperanza and then stifling the Belmont offence at every turn for the remainder of the game. “Our defence just shut them down in the second half,” Linnen said. “We went out after halftime and just played our game. We used two defensive fronts - one four-man and one five-man - and we switched it up now and then. We got a turnover in the third quarter and after that it was just clock management.” Frank Hurt’s offence kept up their end of the team effort late in the third quarter when Reid scored his second touchdown of the game on a five-yard run to the left corner of the goal line. Belmont’s last gasp came in the form of a Hail Mary attempt in final seconds of the fourth quarter but the pass fell incomplete. “They got the ball with one second left and I swear that was the longest one second of my life,” Linnen said. “All we needed was one more stop and we got it when the ball was knocked down. After that everybody was on the field cheering.” Two dozen of the Hornets are seniors and Saturday marked their final game as high school players. Linnen said Frank Hurt will stay at the Tier 2 level for one more season before considering a move up to class AA in 2012.
❚ SPORTS
now
❚FOOTBALL
/A31
Cloverdale Bengals receiver Cameron McNabb (15) reaches for extra yardage while being tackled by a Victoria Spartans defender during the provincial midget football semifinal Sunday. Victoria scored a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns to upset the ❚PHOTO/Sharon Doucette Bengals 18-11 and advance to the provincial final.
❚JUNIOR A HOCKEY
Eagles moving in right direction
While the BOOTH results looked Michael Sports Editor mediocre with a win and a loss to show for two games last week, Surrey Eagles coach Matt Erhart said he is pleased with the progress his club has made in the past month. Surrey topped the visiting Victoria Grizzlies 4-3 at South Surrey Arena Thursday night before being tripped up 5-1 by the archrival Chiefs in B.C. Hockey League play Friday night in Langley. While a split is not an ideal result, Erhart said he liked what he saw from the Eagles on the ice. “Of course we want to win every game we play but it was still a pretty good weekend,” he said. “Looking back I’m happy with the way we’ve been playing for the last couple of weeks. We’ve had some really good battles lately, games where we’ve had to play the way we have to play if we want to continue to have success in the second half of the season when teams get better before the playoffs.”
According to Erhart, the weekend’s most lopsided result, the loss in Langley, was actually not as much of a let down as the final score would imply. “We had a 1-0 lead for a good portion of the game but we ran into some penalty trouble near the end of the second period,” Erhart said. “One of our players (defenceman Mitch Jones) stood up for our goalie and we ended up being shorthanded for the next seven minutes. We have no problem with what he (Jones) did; it’s a long season and we have to show other teams we won’t be pushed around in those circumstances.” Surrey opened the scoring with a Brad McGowan powerplay goal and held on to that advantage until late in the middle frame when the Chiefs took a 3-1 lead thanks to the prolonged power play resulting from Jones’s penalties. Langley added one more goal in the third before closing out the scoring with an empty netter. Surrey opened the weekend when they took on the Grizzlies for the first time this season. The
Eagles coughed up a goal in the opening seconds of the game before settling down to dominate play for the remainder of the evening. The two teams traded goals for the first two periods before Surrey took the lead for good when Jeff Vanderlugt and McGowan scored less than a minute apart in the third period to give Surrey a 4-2 edge. Victoria cut the gap to one goal with a late shorthanded marker but Surrey held on for the 4-3 win. “They scored nine seconds into the game and they scored with 10 seconds left,” Erhart said. “The other 59 minutes we were pretty good in terms of limiting their chances. We were pretty solid in all three zones and stuck with our game plan and eventually we broke through with those two late goals. We outshot them pretty good (4628) and it was a pretty good team effort all in all.” McGowan finished with two goals and one assist while Tyler Morley netted the other Surrey goal.
A swarm is coming... Watch for your swarm. Listen for the buzz. It’s gonna bee happening.
December 1st, 2010