The Bantam Titans braved a massive black sea of Richmond Raiders on Monday (Oct. 8), but after a strong early offensive drive that involved a new passing attack from the Titans, the riptide became too strong and the larger Raider roster prevailed 56-8.
"We just got tired," said coach Rob Ryan. "That first quarter we just about peaked."
After giving up a touchdown on a 55-yard Raider run, the Titans began surprising the Vancouver Mainland Football League's first place team. For the first time this season, the Titans put together a series of running and passing plays that dissected their opponents.
Cory Constanin put an eight-yard pass through to Trevor LeBlanc before finishing the first down himself on a short run.
Alexander Neville then leapt to catch another pass for a 20-yard gain, putting the Titans in the red zone.After gaining short distances on the ground, Constantin threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Luke Kyle.
For a team that has relied mostly on running wide right all season, the success of the new offensive element surprised them just as much as it did Richmond, which had only given up 32 points in six games.
What's more, the Titans didn't settle for a single point after, but rather pulled off a fake kick for a two-point conversion run by Nolan Prevost.
"That first drive was a great drive, with three really nice catches," said Ryan. "We had more guys catching the ball today than we've had for a while. It was something we were hoping to do coming into today and we did it well."
But the 19 Titans couldn't keep up the momentum against almost 40 Raiders out for revenge.
The Raider returner blasted 85 yards for a touchdown on the following kickoff.The same speedster almost ran for another long touchdown run on a following drive, but Mike Hood proved he was the fastest player on the field. Not only did he catch up to the Raider before reaching the end zone, Hood stripped the ball loose while Constantin recovered the fumble. There were definitely positive aspects of the game. In the end, however, the Titans didn't have the resources to pull through, said Ryan."We knew we were going to be in the game early and it was going to get long. We ran out of stream a bit earlier than I thought."
The Titan offence is gaining momentum, and as they keep working on the mesh offence with four wide receivers and a shotgun it will only get stronger.
The Vancouver Trojans better watch out next Sunday when the Titans - having won their last road game - roll into town.
