Former Sun GM offers predictions for 2017 season
Zaron foresees Okanagan as runner-up again, with Langley as BCFC champion
With the B.C. Football Conference regular season kicking off in a week — next Saturday, July 29 — optimism abounds for all six teams in training camp, at least on the surface.
Each head coach is excited about the talent his club has assembled, and while expectations may be different from team to team, everyone appears confident their team will be at least as good as 2016.
Talk is cheap and expectations of success mean little in sports, since it’s all about what happens on game day on the pitch, court, diamond, ice or, in this case, the gridiron.
So, what can we expect to see this season and which teams will be in the BCFC playoffs come October? Or which teams will be on the outside looking in?
Perhaps no one better to ask than former Valley Huskers head coach and Okanagan Sun general manager Howie Zaron.
Currently serving as offensive coordinator for the North Surrey Bears midget program and an assistant coach with Team B.C. that just finished third in the Canada Cup, Zaron watches the BCFC and follows the talent throughout Western Canada in high school and midget as closely as anyone.
Blake Roberts, of bcfootballconference.com, recently put Zaron on the spot and asked him to place the six teams in order of finish this season. Here is what Zaron had to say:
Sixth Place — Valley Huskers (Chilliwack)
While Zaron feels the Huskers will finish in the basement again in 2017, he has only positive things to say about how the Valley squad will compete this season.
“I think Chilliwack will be the best last-place team the BCFC has seen in a while. I think this will be the best coached team the Huskers have had since they were awarded a franchise.”
Zaron says a rookie to watch for the Huskers is running back Keenan Vicklund of Robert Bateman Secondary in Abbotsford.
Fifth Place — Kamloops Broncos
Zaron is less bullish on the prospects for improvement in Kamloops this season, saying the Broncos will miss the playoffs for a second straight year. Zaron cites lack of balance on both sides of the ball as a reason the club will struggle.
“Kamloops, once again, will have a very good offence, but the offensive line and the defence overall is going to be an issue.
“They will have a high-octane offence if they can protect (quarterback Colby) Henkel, but the question is can they stop the other team from scoring?”
Zaron says Broncos fans can expect to see the BCFC’s rookie of the year at Hillside Stadium again this year after Henkel turned the trick in 2016. You heard it here first that receiver Maximilian Joseph (North Langley Midgets) will add to his trophy case this year.
Fourth Place — Vancouver Island Raiders (Nanaimo)
The Raiders, led by new head coach and longtime defensive coordinator Doug Hocking, will be in the playoffs for the 13th straight year since the franchise arrived in Nanaimo, according to Zaron. However, he doesn’t foresee the Raiders making any strides, at least in terms of playoff positioning this season.
“V.I. will be a solid team. I think they will be able to upset some of the teams at the top, but they can also be beaten by teams below them.
“They will be a well-coached team again, I just don’t think they are at the talent level of the top three.”
Zaron said the Raiders have some good young talent coming in, singling out running back Zander Baily from Terry Fox Secondary in Coquitlam.
Third Place — Westshore Rebels (Victoria)
Some eyebrows will likely be raised by Zaron’s opinion that the defending BCFC champions will fall two places in the regular-season standings, and Zaron says he expects to hear about it.
Zaron chuckled when he said Rebels assistant coach John Cardilicchia will be calling to grill him on his team’s slight. Former Sun head coach Shane Beatty also remains on Westshore’s staff.
Zaron feels the Rebels’ issues will mainly stem from losing a mobile, versatile quarterback (Ashton Mackinnon) and exceptional running back (Jamel Lyles).
“I know Charly Cardilicchia has gone east and recruited some really high-level talent but, that being said, they lose their starting quarterback and they lose the best player in all of Canadian amateur football (Lyles).”
Zaron also provided some bulletin-board motivation for the man who shared the back field with Lyles last year and will be the feature back this year, Trey Campbell.
“Trey Campbell is a hell of a running back, but he’s not Jamel Lyles.”
Second Place — Okanagan Sun (Kelowna)
Zaron slots the Sun back where the club left off in 2016, predicting Okanagan will finish in second place and make the playoffs for the 36th consecutive season.
Zaron says Okanagan’s defence will cause issues for opposing offences again this year. But, like with the Huskers, Zaron sees balance as a question mark.
“The Sun will have one of the best defences in the league, but they might have question marks at the quarterback and offensive line positions. I know the Sun will disagree with me, but we will see.”
Zaron is bullish on Okanagan’s rookie running back Tanner Sudo out of Lethbridge, Alta.
First Place — Langley Rams
Zaron picks the Rams to make the most strides of any BCFC team this year, at least in terms of where they finish — predicting Langley to jump from third place last year to first place this year.
“I think the Rams will be the most balanced club in the league this year. I think they are going to have good special teams, a good offence, and I think they will have the No. 1 defence in the league.
“The Rams have a lot of good returning players. This is the first time in probably four years that I was at a Rams spring camp where I can say ‘that looks like a really good football team.’”
Zaron says defensive lineman Adam Marchetti will have an all-star season in leading the Rams’ surge to first place.
Final Thoughts
Zaron seemed to give himself some leeway in case he proves wrong in the order of his predicted finishing — at least when it comes to the top-three clubs. He says there is little separating the Rams, Sun and Rebels, and that junior fans should expect a real dogfight this year.
“I think those teams are all real close. We could easily have three teams with identical records when it’s over, and the third-place team coming out of the conference.”
The 2017 BCFC season kicks off with the following games next Saturday: Vancouver Island at Langley, 4 p.m. Valley (Chilliwack) at Kamloops, 6 p.m. Westshore (Victoria) at Okanagan, 7 p.m. at the Apple Bowl