A wise old football coach once said… “it’s not how you start the game…it’s how you finish”.
Sun advance to Cullen Cup Final
On Saturday night at the Apple Bowl the Okanagan Sun couldn’t find the gas pedal in the first half…but come the final whistle, it was all Sun as they punched their ticket to the Cullen Cup Championship game with a 50-19 win over the Valley Huskers.
The Sun opened the scoring early in the first quarter on an Elelyon Noa 23 yard catch and run for six…that was pretty much it for the offence until late in the half.
On the very next series, Huskers QB Tyran Duval, unshaken by his earlier interception, marched his team 76 yards in six plays, finding WR Steve Koniuck for a 29-yard pass and run to tie the game at 7.
Duval, looking very much in command of his offence, tossed his second TD of the half just two plays into the second quarter, 14-7 Huskers.
The Huskers started to pull further away from the sluggish Sun with a field-goal to make it 17-7.
Cue the Sun defence, signs of things to come, Duval tossed his second INT of the half giving Okanagan excellent field position at Valley’s 22-yard line, Noa eventually crossing the goal line for his second of three TD’s on the night, 17-14.
Late in the half, Sun pinned deep in their end P Grady Hay gave up two points, 19-15.
The Huskers took over on their own 35-yard line, unable to move the ball, the Sun got the ball back at midfield with a little over a minute remaining in the half.
Starting QB Marek Filipek found WR Ben Chomolok for nine yards and then WR Marcus Burden for a 45-yard TD toss to make it 22-19 Sun at the half.
The second half proved to be a complete turn around, the Huskers offence sputtered and the Sun defence took charge.
After a scoreless third quarter, the Sun ball-hawks, aka defensive backs, went to work.
The Sun secondary could have been charged with grand theft, intercepting a total of seven passes on the night. DB Easton Fenske led with three steals, one a 45-yard scamper for a pick-six. Both DB Ahmed Borhot and DB Vincente Ferreira each had two INT’s, Ferreira returned his second for a 62-yard TD.
It wasn’t all defence in the fourth quarter, QB Liam Kroeger, who replaced Filipek early in the third, led the Sun offence to two TD’s.
Working with good field position, Kroeger engineered an 18-yard drive finished off by Noa’s third TD of the game…on the very next Sun position, Kroeger, showing the veteran poise, took the Sun 50 yards in four plays, and then calling his own number for a three-yard TD.
After the final whistle and the dust had settled, it was 28 unanswered points in the fourth quarter and a defence that was relentless in its attack that led the Sun to victory.
All that matters… “it’s how you finish”.
The Okanagan Sun will host the Westshore Rebels in the BCFC Championship game, Saturday October 19th, kick-off 3:00 PM at the Apple Bowl. Saturday’s game will be a rematch of last years Cullen Cup when the Sun travelled to the island, losing to the Rebels.