Sun shining, winning awards for prevailing in 1st-place showdown

Life is good for Ben Macauley, Kelton Kouri, Isaac Wegner and the rest of the Okanagan Sun right now.

Fresh off their biggest win of the season — a 47-31 triumph over the rival Vancouver Island Raiders at Caledonia Park in Nanaimo — the Sun had more reason to celebrate on Tuesday when Kouri and Wegner won two of the BCFC’s three weekly awards.

Kouri, a veteran running back, earned offensive honours thanks to racking up 136 yards on 17 carries, plus a seven-yard touchdown catch.

With starting quarterback Jakob Loucks sidelined by injury, the Sun needed someone to step up and Kouri delivered — with help from the offensive line — in establishing more of a rushing attack than usual.

It was Kouri’s best performance of not only the 2018 season, but also his BCFC career.

Wegner, meanwhile, just kept on kicking — literally and figuratively.

Okanagan’s kicker and punter was perfect again — going 4-for-4 on field goals and 5-for-5 on converts — to win his second straight and third overall special-teams award through eight weeks of the season.

Wegner flipped his stat-line from the previous week when he went 5-for-5 on field goals and 4-for-4 on converts to total 19 points.

This time, he tallied 17 points and didn’t buckle under the pressure of an intimidating environment.

Wegner was also pinpoint in the placement of his punts, making the returns difficult for the Raiders.

By winning that first-place showdown over the Raiders (5-3-0), the Sun (5-2-1) now control their own destiny for the stretch run, with two more home games to close out the regular-season schedule.

Okanagan hosts the last-place and winless Kamloops Broncos (0-8-0) on Sunday, 1 p.m. at the Apple Bowl in Kelowna, followed by a tougher test against the Westshore Rebels of Victoria (3-4-1), who will be in a must-win situation for that finale on Saturday, Oct. 13.

The Rebels, who changed coaches mid-season in promoting former Sun bench boss Shane Beatty to head coach, need to win out in order to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Macauley, who replaced Beatty here for the 2016 season, has the Sun on a three-game winning streak.