The Vernon Panthers senior varsity football team乌鸦传媒檚 season will end on its home field, not B.C. Place Stadium.
The Cats will host the AAA Kelowna Owls Friday, Dec. 3, at 7 p.m. at Greater Vernon Athletic Park in the B.C. High School Football乌鸦传媒檚 AA/AAA Interior/North championship.
The two-time reigning high school AA Subway Bowl champion Panthers were denied a chance to go for a three-peat in Vancouver when B.C. School Sports cancelled all provincial championships on Nov. 17 due to flooding in the province, and made regional championship finals instead.
The Panthers haven乌鸦传媒檛 played since Nov. 20 when they travelled to Prince George and knocked off the North乌鸦传媒檚 No. 1 seed, the Duchess Park Condors, 31-7.
The Owls advanced to the final with a 37-8 romp over the AA South Kamloops Titans in Kamloops Saturday, Nov. 27. The Titans were the No. 1 AA seed from the Interior, having upset the Panthers 7-6 in Vernon earlier this season.
South Kamloops was originally slated to play host to the Ballenas Whalers of Parksville in a provincial quarter-final matchup, with the winner advancing to the AA Subway Bowl semifinal round, which was to take place in BC Place Stadium.
But the cancellation of provincial championships, which dashed dreams of playing in the dome, did not sit well with neither Panthers bench boss Sean Smith or Titans乌鸦传媒� head coach Brad Yamaoka and was a tough pill for players in the Okanagan, Interior and North regions.
乌鸦传媒淚t乌鸦传媒檚 obviously unfortunate, but we still get to come out here and ball out with the boys,乌鸦传媒� said Jaeke Schlachter, Kelowna乌鸦传媒檚 standout who caught two touchdown passes and kicked four extra points and one field goal vs the Titans on Saturday.
乌鸦传媒淚t乌鸦传媒檚 better than sitting at home. You get to come out here and play football. That乌鸦传媒檚 all that matters.乌鸦传媒�
South Kamloops, a smaller school than Kelowna, was undermanned and a major underdog heading into the contest, but held its own in the first quarter, which turned into a puntfest and finished in a scoreless tie.
Kelowna held a 27-0 lead at halftime, up big on a South Kam team that lost two key cogs to injury 乌鸦传媒� provincial all-star Toryn Fraser and tackling machine Jakob Kies.
乌鸦传媒淔ull strength to full strength, we could hold our own a little bit, but again, numbers, right?乌鸦传媒� Yamaoka said after the game. 乌鸦传媒淲e lose a couple of starters and we just don乌鸦传媒檛 have much to go to after that. The kids who stepped in played well, but at the end of the day, it乌鸦传媒檚 tough to compete against these Triple A schools with bigger rosters. A lot of them weren乌鸦传媒檛 super excited to be playing this game, but that乌鸦传媒檚 the way it is乌鸦传媒ξ谘淮綕
乌鸦传媒�-with files from Marty Hastings, Kamloops This Week
Like us on and follow us on .
Want to support local journalism? Make a donation
