The College Heights Cougars’ football season has come to a close, as they fell 36-14 to the Vernon Panthers in the AA Football Provincial Semifinal at BC Place yesterday. (Saturday)
“I thought it was a well-played game on our side,” said College Heights Head Coach Grant Erickson.
“They caught us on a couple of touchdown passes early in the game which kind of put us on our heels, but we kind of expected that. Their quarterback is very talented, very athletic, he’s got a really strong arm.”
Erickson said his team knew it was going to be a challenge, and after they got caught on the deep passes, they stood toe-to-toe with the top-ranked Panthers.
“We were able to move the ball up and down the field, we scored two touchdowns,” he said.
“The defence played really strong, good tackling, playing physical, I don’t think they expected we would be that physical, but we sent them home with some bruises guaranteed, we made them earn everything they got.”
Erickson said provincials was the goal from day one, and it’ll be the same next year.
“We’ve found a good recipe or a good system here, so we’re hoping to run it back again next year,” he said.
The team is losing nine players to graduation, but the core pieces will still be there for next season.
“Our leadership group this year was three grade 11’s as captains,” Erickson explained.
“We have the quarterback, we have the line captain, we have Troy as the receiver captain, there’s pieces there, we’ve got some good grade tens coming up, and just hearing some of the buzz in the hallway at school, I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be able to be as strong or stronger next year.”
Erickson added for those returning players, this weekend’s game at BC Place will be a good learning experience.
“It’s a little bit different process playing in the dome than just a regular football game,” he said.
“There’s security you have to go through, there’s certain areas you’re allowed to warm up and certain times you’re allowed to warm up, so it was good to go through that process.”
Erickson said playing a team of Vernon’s caliber also shows where they need to be.
Erickson added he and the team are thankful for the local businesses and sponsors who helped the team get down to BC Place.
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