Saturday, August 6, 2011
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JUNIOR FOOTBALL rivals meet tonight down Malahat.
I
◆ V.I. RAIDERS play the Westshore Rebels tonight (Aug. 6) at 7 p.m. at Victoria’s Bear Mountain Stadium.
BY GREG SAKAKI THE NEWS BULLETIN
◆ NANAIMO TEAM plays its home opener Aug. 13 when the Kamloops Broncos visit Caledonia Park for a 4 p.m. kickoff. ◆ SEASON TICKETS available by calling 250-756-4755 or e-mailing gibooth@shaw.ca.
Early season exciting for youthful V.I. team
GREG SAKAKI/THE NEWS BULLETIN
V.I. Raiders receiver Whitman Tomusiak makes a catch at walk-through Tuesday night at Comox Field. The Raiders face the Westshore Rebels tonight (Aug. 6) at Victoria’s Bear Mountain Stadium.
ter in that area tonight. There’s no excuse not to be pumped up when they’re lining up against the hated Rebels. “When we play Victoria it’s always going to be a physical game,” Atwall said. “They’re our rival and we want to show them that we own this rock.” The Raiders franchise was founded in 2005 when most of
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Raiders will push Rebels around The V.I. Raiders and Westshore Rebels face one another on the gridiron for the 20th time tonight (Aug. 6). The Nanaimo squad hopes it ends the same way as the previous 19 meetings – with a win for the Raiders. The two Canadian Junior Football League teams are both coming off road victories in Week 1, as V.I. defeated the Langley Rams 39-13 and Vic handled the Chilliwack Huskers 37-8. The rivals also faced one another in the pre-season, a 53-11 pasting by the Raiders. “We beat them pretty badly, so they’re going to be wanting to come at us pretty hard and show that they’re a better team than that,” said Ranji Atwall, Raiders linebacker. The V.I. team thinks that last month’s pre-season game was an indication of what to expect tonight. “We played most of our starters, they played most of theirs, I think,” said Andrew Smith, Raiders receiver. V.I.’s defensive players said they will be trying to focus on stopping Victoria’s run game and will also keep in mind that the Rebels’ QB Cat Todorovich likes to get rid of the ball quickly. “We’ve just got to execute, stick to our man coverage…” said Evan Foster, defensive lineman. “We’ve got to bring our A game and play the best that we can.” The Raiders were talking a lot this week about preparation. They didn’t feel they started last week’s game with enough physicality, so they intend to be bet-
Nanaimo News Bulletin
the Rebels players and coaches left Victoria to move to Nanaimo. There were hard feelings at the time and games between the teams are always emotional. “They’re the Island rival, right?” asked Smith. “So it’s a pretty big deal and it’s been a big deal since we moved to Nanaimo.” sports@nanaimobulletin.com
The beginning of August is a long way from crunch time, but it’s an exciting time for V.I. Raiders players and coaches. This is the point in the season when a young football team is building its identity. “People don’t realize we’re younger this year than we were last year,” said Matthew “Snoop” Blokker, Raiders coach. A day after the team’s first game, the coach was already anxious to see what the Raiders could accomplish next. “I just can’t wait to play,” Blokker said. “The more we play, I know the better we’re going to get. I’m really excited about it.” The defence, in particular, has a lot of first-year Raiders, but there are also newcomers on offence and on special teams. “There’s rookies all over the place,” said Andrew Smith, veteran receiver. “So it’s good to see people step up and make plays and fill spots.” Veteran linebacker Ranji Atwall said the Raiders are “pretty pumped” about the new additions to the team. “To see young guys strive on this level, it gets you pretty excited to play even harder,” he said. “It’s fun to see.”
DBL Timbermen lose to Pioneers in series finale A loss of of fensive momentum cost the Nanaimo DBL Timbermen a shot at the provincial title Thursday night after losing to the Ladner Pioneers 7-3 in the West Coast Senior Lacrosse Association semifinals. Nanaimo had fallen into a 2-0 hole early in the series, but battled back to tie Ladner 2-2 to force Game 5. Heading into the deciding game at the Ladner Leisure Centre, the Timbermen said they felt they had the momentum as their big defence had found a way to shut down Pioneer scorers. That was the case in Game 5, but Nanaimo’s offence simply couldn’t match Ladner’s attack. “We created a few good scoring chances but I thought their goalie played well,” said Roger Dubyna, Timbermen coach. “In the end it was three or four critical mistakes that cost us at least three goals.” The loss took away an opportunity for the T-men to avenge a 3-1 league championship final series loss to the Tri City Bandits in 2010. Instead, the Pioneers earned the right to take on the defending league champions in the 2011 edition of the championship final. Tri City defeated the Valley Rebels 3-1 in the other semi-final series. The winner of the Pioneers-Bandits series will continue on to represent B.C. in the President’s Cup national championship tournament. Scoring for the Timbermen in the loss were Ryan Clarke, Kyle Noble and Shawn Swanson.
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