Another week, another win.
The Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers continued their winning ways Nov. 8 after taking down the Mt. Boucherie Bears 41-0. The result gave the Panthers a playoff win in the wild-card round of the B.C. high school senior varsity football playoffs. It also gave rookie head coach Michael Carter his first playoff win as Panthers’ HC.
The Panthers scored three touchdowns in the first half and added three more in the second. The team's defence was stingy throughout the game, not allowing the Bears to gain much yardage on offence and forcing turnovers.
Carter said he has to give full credit to his players for being “mentally tough” after facing a long delay to open the game. The game’s kickoff got pushed back after Mt. Boucherie’s bus in from Kelowna was delayed for more than an hour because of an accident on Highway #1.
“We were on the field for almost 2.5 hours awaiting kick off,” Carter explained.
Despite the early adversity, he said his players “stayed focused on the task at hand” and because of that they were able to run out a convincing playoff win and head into the second round with some momentum.
“It was a three-phase win this week,” Carter noted. “Our offence was rolling with Chase Thurston at the helm posting our best performance of the season, numbers-wise. Our defence did a good job adapting to some plays and formations we weren't expecting, while pitching the shutout. Our special teams units were solid again.”
Carter added he was very happy with his team's overall effort.
He said the players will need that same amount of effort and preparation in order to face next week’s opponent, again at home at Cloverdale Athletic Park.
“It’s special to win a playoff game,” Carter said. “We have an opportunity next week to host a quarterfinal against GW Graham, the same team that ended our season a year ago. We'll need a great week of preparation.”
Key Stats
Thurston was 12/16 for 242 yards passing and 5 TDs; Peyton Mansfield had 17 rushes for 109 yards, with one rushing TD and one passing TD; Tristan Dominguez had four catches for 91 yards and one TD, with an interception on defence; Jack Roberts had four catches for 79 yards, with seven tackles on D.
With the win, the Panthers move into the second round of the playoffs and face Chilliwack’s GW Graham. GW Graham is coming off a 31-30 win over Carson Graham last week.
Kickoff for the quarter-final playoff game is tentatively set for 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 15 at Cloverdale Athletic Park.
