A visit from Vernon’s Clarence Fulton Maroons Friday night will give the Hugh Boyd Trojans an opportunity to shake off a little more rust before jumping into the teeth of their conference schedule.
The Trojans have been hovering as an honourable mention in the latest B.C. High School Football AA rankings since the start of the season for good reason. A postponed exhibition game against Ballenas and an open date in their schedule gave them a three week layoff before finally returning to the field last Saturday in a 24-0 conference opening win over Surrey’s Frank Hurt Hornets.
Boyd is idle in league play again this week but, fortunately, head coach Bill Haddow had lined up the Fulton game during the off-season. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.
“I thought we looked slow which is to be expected when you haven’t played for that long,” said Haddow of last weekend’s performance. “It’s almost impossible to replicate speed and game conditions in practice, especially when you are very limited in numbers.”
Haddow is unsure what kind of test his team will get from Fulton.
The Maroons are winless this season, including 0-2 in conference play. but have been competitive the past two weeks. Regardless, the game will provide more meaningful snaps for Grade 11 Tariq Lopez who made his debut at quarterback against the Hornets.
“I thought he managed the game well,” said Haddow. “He is a cerebral kid that just doesn’t get freaked out about things. He will take on more and more moving forward.”
The Trojans leaned on their potent running game and excellent line play as Gabe Saklofsky and Robbie Conroy found the end zone on 82 and 65 yard plays respectively. Saklofsky added the other major on a 34-yard interception.
Darby Kwan led the defensive effort with eight tackles and caused havoc in the Hornets backfield all afternoon. Linebacker Derelle Simbillo added five tackles and Alex Whitlock had four.
Boyd will head to Surrey again on Oct. 24 for what’s shaping up as a pivotal conference game against Holy Cross. The Crusaders were ranked fourth but dropped a 20-13 decision to Langley — another team the Trojans have yet to play.
“We need to see where we are and those are a couple of tough games coming up,” added Haddow.
