Prince George is known for its snowy winter climate, even in the fall, and with heavy snow expected for Saturday morning’s high school football provincial playoff game at Masich Place Stadium, Sean Smith is looking forward to the challenge Mother Nature has in store.
The head coach of the Vernon Panthers says he’s never taken a team to Prince George in all his years of coaching football and he can’t remember the last time any of his teams have had to make tracks in the snow to get to the end zone.
But with as much as 10 centimetres expected to fall Saturday on the city and the worst of the storm expected to hit right around kickoff time at 11 a.m., the Panthers and their opponents, the Duchess Park Condors, are going to have to adjust to the weather as they decide who will advance to the B.C. Secondary Schools Football Association’s double-A varsity North/Interior championship game.
“It’s the first time for our program to come up here, I think we played (the Condors) in Kamloops a number of years ago,” said Smith “Vernon got a dump yesterday, so we were fortunate, we got to practice in it and that was good for our boys. We haven’t played or practiced in the snow for years.”
The Panthers are coming off a 35-14 win over the Prince George Polars a week ago in Vernon, while the P.G. Bowl-champion Condors had a chance to rest up for Saturday’s game. Much like the Condors, Smith says his team likes to mix it up and keep defences guessing with an equal array of passing and running plays.
“Different from other teams, I think we bring a little balance this year; we can run the ball effectively, which has been coming on a bit stronger the last few weeks, and we can pass,” said Smith. “When I watch Duchess play, we’re very similar in style to them. They kind of run a spread offence and try to spread you out and if you take guys out of the box they run, and if you keep guys in the box they pass.”
The Panthers and Condors each finished the regular season with 3-1 records. Vernon clinched first place in the Triple-A/Double-A Hybrid Division, outscoring its opponents in the four games combined 113-16. Duchess Park opened the North playoffs with a 21-14 win over the College Heights Cougars, then topped regular-season champion Polars in the P.G. Bowl final 35-12.
Last week, the Panthers and Polars were tied 14-14 at the half and PGSS was threatening when quarterback Jason Kragt took off on a 50-yard run, but he was prevented from scoring by a diving tackle from Panthers defender Mats Friesen, who stripped the ball and recovered the fumble in the end zone. Vernon took possession and drove the length of the field to score a touchdown, then blocked a punt later in the quarter to set up another scoring drive and they never looked back. Rookie Joe Murphy played most of the season as a receiver but due to injuries was called into service as a running back for the PGSS game and he ran for 95 yards and one touchdown.
The Panthers started Braden Khunkhun at quarterback and he completed one pass for a touchdown but Jake Farrell took over and finished the game, going for five-for-five with his receivers. Farrell, who transferred to Vernon this year from Yorkton, Sask., completed 64 of 119 attempts during the season for 964 yards and five touchdowns, with just two interceptions.
“Our offence wasn’t running as efficiently as I wanted for a good part of the season so I tried Braden to start last week to see if we could get a spark out of it but we had some injuries last week so I think we’re going to shift him back to receiver, where he was playing a lot before, and Jake’s going to get the start.”
Defence is the Panthers’ strength and it revolves around middle linebacker Scotty Hoffman, who doubles on offence as a tailback. He led the team with 148 yards in four games and three rushing touchdowns. He also picked up a team-leading 248 yards through the air, averaging 20.67 yards per catch, scoring three majors. But he’s been playing hurt and Smith said he’ll probably stick to defence exclusively in Saturday’s game.
“We’ve been very stout against the run and the pass this year and it’s kind of saved us because our offence usually scores a lot of points and we’ve struggled in the red zone and struggled to have some big plays,” said Smith.
Having watched the game tape from the P.G. Bowl final, the Panther defence is well aware what Quinn Neukomm and Noah Lank mean to the Condors when they have the ball. Neukomm, who rates as one of the top quarterbacks in the province, completed five of his seven attempts against the Polars for 138 yards and four touchdowns. Three of those TD catches were made by Carson Briere, but it was Aiden Lewis who took off on the game’s longest TD romp, a 65-yarder.
Lank shredded PGSS for 197 rushing yards and utilized his speed and 215-pound bulk to make nine tackles as a linebacker. Gabe Malfair, Spencer Jamieson and Haven Dunphy have also been standouts on the Condors’ defence and they’ve stepped up their intensity as the season has progressed.
The other offensive weapon the Condors possess is the kicking leg of Euan Murray. Honed on soccer, that boot is capable of finding the uprights from 40 yards away and Murray is Mr. Automatic on converts. The snow might upset his kicking rhythm but he’s been practicing all week on the field turf at Masich, which gives him and the Condors an advantage. Murray is also blessed with quick feet and steady hands as the Condors’ starting safety and starting wide receiver.
Condors head coach Craig Briere watched from afar as Vernon won back-to-back BCSSFA double-A varsity Subway Bowl titles in 2018 and 2019 and the Panthers were provincial semifinalists in 2016 and 2017.
“Vernon is always a perennial top contender in the double-A division, they’re well-coached and from what we’ve seen on film they’ve got a strong offence that’s very diverse - they can run and they can throw,” said Briere. “They’ve got a hard-tackling defence and they’re a very good team. Their program is always competing at the highest level in the province and they’ve won a couple provincial championships, so it’s certainly going to be a big challenge for us.”
The week off has allowed the Condors time to heal a few wounds and Briere says they will be ready to play the biggest game of their football lives. Briere has had time to dissect the video footage and was impressed with what the Panthers showed in their win over PGSS last weekend.
“They’re quick, they’re fast, they’re extremely athletic and they do a lot of things that are maybe advanced for this level of play, so we’ve really had to sit back and look at how we can execute and try to match what they’re doing,” said Briere. “(The week off) was good mentally as well as physically, and the players were able to get away from football a little bit and catch up on their schoolwork and the important things in life and we were able to refocus this week at practice and get a few good practices in and that’s certainly beneficial for us in the long term. Tomorrow it’s just about allowing them to go out and play and have some fun and showcase what they’ve got.”
Briere said he appreciates the work of city crews this week to keep the turf at Masich swept clear of snow, which allowed his team to practice under the lights, but that will no doubt be harder to accomplish Saturday if the forecast is accurate.
“It’s going to be hard to put up big numbers on them but at the end of the day that’s what you want in a championship game, a nice close game and hopefully it comes down to one or two scores,” said Briere.
The BCSSFA announced Tuesday that due to the highway closures following the big rainstorm that devastated parts of southwestern B.C., the North/Interior and Lower Mainland/Vancouver Island playoffs will be independent of each other there will be no provincial champions determined this year.
The winner of Saturday’s Condors-Panthers game will take on the winner of next weekend’s Kelowna-South Kamloops game in the Interior/North final - scheduled for Dec. 3 or Dec. 4 at a location yet to be determined. Kelowna is considered a triple-A school, based on the school population, while South Kamloops is a hybrid double-A/triple-A school.
The Coastal double-A and Coastal triple-A divisions will play off to determine regional champions.
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