The Howe Sound Sounders football club ran into a juggernaut in the Moscrop Panthers during the Tier 2 Provincial championship game in Burnaby on Friday (Nov. 8).
Moscrop went undefeated all season long and continued that trend into the playoffs with a 34-6 win over the Sounders in the finals.
Any loss is disappointing but these kids put a lot of effort into this and gave it all they had, said Sounders coach Vincent Fecteau. All the coaches are really proud of the kids accomplishments this year. Everyone bought into the programs and the fact that we beat Timberline 20-8 last week on the road to get here shows the character of these kids.
Fecteau said the Panthers had several skilled players that the Sounders couldn't stop.
Moscrop has a few guys that are quite athletic and they were able to outrun us, he said. It's not anything we did. When you have a young team there are going to be some mental mistakes and that's what happened today.
The first half was competitive, with the Sounders Rolan Mendoza scoring on a 64 yard reception from quarterback Scott Messier to make the game 8-6. But that was as close as Howe Sound got. They ended the first half down 20-6 and couldn't get anything going offensively in the second half.
They're very strong defensively, Fecteau said of the Panthers. We have to be able to pass the ball to establish the run and most of our passes were short and out of range for our receivers because of the pressure they were putting on us. We ran the ball fairly well but we had to pass to get back in the game.
Fecteau said it was a nice way to go out for graduating players Adam Stangowitz, Scott Hughes, Cam Dare and Dean Van Tassel and said this year's team was strengthened by a number of talented exchange students who took to the sport.
We started with 13 guys at the start of the season so to be here right now is phenomenal, he said.
Moscrop head coach Craig Bymoen said the Sounders didn't make it easy on his club.
This was by far our toughest game of the season, he said. I don't think the score was an indication of how close this game was. They really challenged us on offense and took away quite a few aspects of our game they made us work for our scores.
Bymoen said games against the Sounders are never easy.
They're tough kids, he said. They're always bringing it and they hit really hard.
The Panthers didn't have a senior football team last year so Bymoen said he was unsure what he had heading into this season.
I had no idea what to expect coming into this season, he said. But I was blessed with some talented players and we came together as a unit. We've been pretty fortunate all year the guys really stepped up.
He noted that he should have a strong team again next year, with the entire offensive line, several running backs and most of his linebacking core returning. He added that the Panthers may potentially move to AA next year but that the final decision still has to be made.
Check the print edition of The Chief for more on this story.
