Seahawks have parting gift for Mulliss
Seaquam celebrates 10th anniversary of first double-A football title with win over No. 1-ranked Panthers
Jerry Mulliss’ coaching career may have come up a year short of joining football’s half-century club, but the gridiron gods weren’t going to be sticklers about it.
In a sendoff that seemed to have been scripted by a higher power, the 70-year-old Mulliss capped a 49-year sideline career by winning his first title as a coach, guiding North Delta’s No. 2-ranked Seaquam Seahawks to a 35-15 win over the No. 1-ranked Vernon Panthers in the 2016 Subway Bowl B.C. senior varsity double-A championship final Saturday night at B.C. Place Stadium.
“I don’t really know what to say,” said Mulliss, who last spring had sextuple bypass heart surgery, yet returned to his team in the fall ready to coach.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet, but it’s especially sweet because it’s the end of a career.”
The Seahawks, led by a bloodthirsty defence and a big-play offence paced by its Grade 11 Philpot twins, Jalen and Tyson, and senior Nico Bertuzzi, were a step ahead of the Panthers from the first snap of the ball. Well, the second, actually. That’s when Jalen Philpot dipped, deked and dashed downfield to the tune of a 48-yard gain, setting in motion both his game-opening one-yard touchdown run and a cascade of Seahawks points that put them ahead 21-0 at the half and 28-0 before Vernon’s provincial player of the year, tight end Ben Hladik, got his team on the scoreboard with 33 seconds left in the third quarter after hauling in a 13-yard pass from quarterback Thomas Hyett.
Up until that moment, it was all Seaquam.
Twin brother Tyson, not to be outdone, picked off Hyett at the midfield stripe and returned it to the 25-yard line. With 14 seconds left in the opening quarter, the North Deltans were up 14-0 after quarterback Josh Haydu fired a 16-yard scoring strike to Tyson.
Early in the second quarter, it was yet another big play by the Seahawks when Bertuzzi intercepted a Hyett pass and this time took it straight to the end zone with a 54-yard sprint down the sideline.
Two scores in two minutes, and it was 21-0 Seaquam.
“Those guys are fast, and when you see it on film you don’t realize how fast,” Vernon head coach Sean Smith said. “It took us a while to get used to that speed.”
“The kids just played an incredible game,” Mulliss added. “You could just tell in the dressing before the game that this was going to be our day.
“I told them ‘Don’t be denied’ because chances like this can come around once in a blue moon. “I know that.” Seaquam quickly moved to the Vernon 32-yard line to open the second half and not too soon after, Jalen Philpot, the workhorse on the drive, capped things with a one-yard touchdown run and a 28-0 lead.
After the Hladik touchdown, the Seahawks answered with yet another major, this one coming less than two minutes into the fourth quarter. A big gain by Tyson Philpot took the ’Hawks into the red zone and Bertuzzi’s second major of the game, from two yards out, put Seaquam ahead 35-7.
Hladik added another touchdown, and the two-point convert by Riley Bos made it 35-15.
Smith said he was proud to coach against Mulliss in his final game.
“I emailed him a few days ago just to tell him how much I respect him,” he said.
“He’s 70, he’s had bypass surgery and he’s out there coaching kids.
“If I have to lose to somebody, that is the guy I am going to lose to.”
The victory came in an important milestone year for the Seaquam football program, which was celebrating the 10th anniversary of its one and only previous title, the double-A Subway Bowl title it won in 2006.
In the Grade 8 B.C. final, Jude Buchanan scored four touchdowns, including the game’s opening salvo off a 52-yard fumble recovery, as the Notre Dame Jugglers beat the Vancouver College Fighting Irish 44-6. Joshua Gabriele added two more majors as the Jugglers finished the season with a 9-0 record.
In the double-A junior varsity final, the Nanaimo District Islanders won the school’s first B.C. football championship at any tier, and did it in decisive fashion, topping their crosstown rivals, the John Barsby Bulldogs, 23-0. Clayton Henessy scored off a 60-yard pick-six with 2:47 remaining to put the game away for the Islanders.
In the triple-A junior varsity final, quarterback Trey Jones threw touchdown passes of 20 and 24 yards to receiver Jaden Simon, one in each half, as Surrey’s Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers beat the Mount Douglas Rams of Victoria 17-14.