It was a performance that certainly can be nit-picked but, make no mistake, it was the Hugh Boyd Trojans’ biggest win in recent memory.
The West Richmond school is just one of four teams still standing after advancing to B.C. High School Football’s provincial ‘AA’ semi-finals thanks to a 26-20 win over the Argyle Pipers last Saturday.
The Trojans will have to play a lot better when they take on the No. 1 ranked Vernon Panthers. Yet, the fact they are heading back to B.C. Place Stadium for a second straight weekend is a significant achievement for Richmond’s last remaining gridiron program.
“To be in the final four we our really pleased,” said head coach Bill Haddow, one of the tireless volunteers who has poured hours of his life into the team. “Our little program with a small school, and we have been trying to glue this thing together. We are making it work the best we can in Richmond and we are pretty pleased to be in this position.”
Back in September, there was a quiet confidence among the coaching staff of what this group could accomplish even though Boyd was nowhere to be found in the provincial rankings. An impressive start followed by a victory over previously unbeaten and No. 1 Seaquam instantly got everyone’s attention. The Trojans were brought back down to earth in a stunning defeat to Ballenas and recovered to earn conference honours with a win in their regular season finale against John Barsby.
Now, they will be have to be at their best to go toe-to-toe with a dominant Panthers’ team that handed Ballenas a 28-6 quarter-final loss and features similar strengths.
The game is set for noon on Saturday.
“I saw them on tape against Barsby back in September and they look like a big, strong and physical team that likes to play smash mouth football,” continued Haddow. “It will be a challenge for our big boys and they had it a little tough in that Ballenas (loss). But we know what’s coming now and it will be mano e mano I guess.”
The Trojans looked to be well on their way to a comfortable win over Argyle when they took the second half kickoff and Reece Mok capped an impressive march with a 12-yard run. A Barry Mendez convert made it 26-6. However, the pesky Pipers weren’t going to go away that easy.
After one drive stalled in the red zone, the North Shore school came right back and scored to cut the margin to 26-14 after three quarters.
Things then got very interesting when an interception led to Devin O’Hea getting behind coverage for an 80-yard touchdown to make it 26-20 with still 8:42 remaining.
Twice, the Trojans had to turn back Argyle before finally killing the clock and living to see another week.
Boyd did much of its damage on the ground, taking advantage of a significant size difference up front. Quarterback Tyler Moxin showed his major knee surgery is now well behind him by running for a pair of scores. Mok had the other.
“We have to clean up some stuff. We were sloppy with the ball, our execution and tackling. Add all those things up and it ends up being a close game,” added Haddow. “But give Argyle credit too. They stacked the box well which you have to do against a running team and played us tough.
“In the end, we got the job done and we congratulated the kids on being in the final four.”
