The Vernon Panthers have a chance to go back-to-back and BC High School Football double-A varsity champions following their 36-14 win over the College Heights Cougars in a playoff semifinal Saturday at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver.
The Panthers connected on two lengthy touchdown passes on their first two drives of the game and ended the half by fooling the Cougars with a screen pass into the end zone that spoiled their goal-line stand and gave Vernon a 22-0 lead.
“It was a little bit of nerves,” said Cougars head coach Grant Erickson. “Right out of the gate they caught us with a couple of long bombs in the first five minutes.
“Their quarterback, Cole Budgen, is a heck of an athlete, and he threw the first touchdown, that ball was probably 50 yards in the air and he just got behind us. That’s how Vernon operates, they were going for the jugular from the first play.”
The Cougars drove all day Friday to get to Vancouver and the protocols involved with playing in the home of BC Lions were a bit of learning curve for the team, which Erickson said factored in their slow start.
“Just playing in the Dome is a totally different experience that just playing a regular football game,” said Erickson. “Going through security, they have a locker room process you have to go through. You’re only allowed to warm up on certain parts of the field and you’re only allowed to be out there at certain times and there a bit of a rhythm to it.
“Of course Vernon being so experienced at it, they’re at the Dome every year, and they were loosey-goosey and were chucking the ball at halftime (of the earlier game), and we didn’t know that. Having gone through it now, when we do get back there, now we kind of know (what to expect).”
The Panthers extended their lead to 30-0 early in the third quarter on Ayden Macdonald’s punt return that went the distance of the field.
A week earlier, Vernon pasted the South Kamloops Cowboys 56-0 in the quarterfinals, while the Cougars rallied to beat Holy Cross Crusaders of Surrey 22-15.
Huge underdogs going in to Saturday’s game, despite trailing by 30, the Cougars weren’t about to let their opponents escape without a fight.
College Heights got the ball back and quarterback Dillon Piddocke put together an 80-yard drive that ended with a 10-yard touchdown run for Cougar running back Aiden Smith. The Panthers answered with another major to go ahead 36-8.
With about four minutes left, Piddocke kept the Cougars offence on the field and marched another 80 yards on a drive he finished off with a short QB sneak.
“We were moving the ball OK, we just stalled out a couple times,” said Erickson.
“After the first quarter we started to realize we could play with these guys and once they realized that, we were basically going toe-to-toe with them. our guys never quit and they were laying some good hits. I’d say that was the most physical game they played all season.
I don’t think they thought we’d put up that much of a fight. The score was indicative of a lopsided game but it didn’t feel like a lopsided game.”
The Panthers advance to the double-A championship Saturday at BC Place against the Windsor Wolves of North Vancouver The Wolves defeated Abbotsford’s Robert Bateman Timberwolves 44-28 in the earlier semifinal Saturday.
Saturday’s game was the final chapter in the high school football careers of the Cougar Grade 12 seniors – Smith, Ben Duchsherer, Jackson Moleski, Hayden Marrion, Owen Bass, Zach Loewen, Lincoln Shiels, Dray Barclay and Tyler Rohra Jr.
Piddocke, who missed almost the entire 2023 season with a broken collar bone plans to return to lead the Cougars again in 2025. Erickson said two of the other team captains – Troy Weatherly and Ethan Curzon – also plan to be in the mix next season.
“That’s always the goal, to try to make it to the Dome in the semifinal,” said Erickson. “Being in the North we’re always going to get matched against the Number 1 seed, so we’ve got to try to find a way to get to that level.”
Coached by Sean Smith, the Panthers edged John Barsby Bulldogs of Nanaimo 23-22 in the 2023 double-A final, after they beat Nechako Valley of Vanderhoof in the semis. Vernon has a long history of playoff success.
“They’re so well-coached and they don’t make mistakes and don’t beat themselves, they’re always in position. It was good for us to see how they operate and the maturity and the way the players handle the game.
“We’re close, but that’s the level we have to get to win a semifinal.”
