Rebels well armed to defend BCFC title

As an emotive firecracker of an undersized receiver, Charly Cardilicchia used to cause quite a stir among fans at the Apple Bowl in Kelowna whenever Victoria junior football teams played the powerhouse Okanagan Sun.

“I used to get the crowd worked up,” he said, recalling one headline in the local newspaper which read: “This Charly is no angel.”

Cardilicchia returns to the familiar old road haunt tonight as the new head coach of the Westshore Rebels for the 2017 B.C. Junior Football Conference season opener against the Sun.

“But this [storyline] is not about me. This is about these players,” he said.

It is such a fresh sheet that he says the Cullen Cup rematch plotline also matters little. The Rebels defeated the Sun last year in the B.C. championship game, under previous head coach J.C. Boice, en route to playing in the Canadian championship game against the eventual national-champion Saskatoon Hilltops.

Yet, there will be some reverberations from last year as former St. Mary’s University Huskies player Scott Borden Jr., who played part of last season for the Rebels, takes over at quarterback for Westshore from Ashton MacKinnon, who is not returning to the team.

“[Borden] is a natural leader and the guys listen to him,” said Cardilicchia.

“He is back here only for one reason — and that is to win a championship.”

Borden will be throwing to Dsaun Greenaway, a six-foot-five receiver from Mississauga, Ont., who has played in U Sports for the York University Yeomen and who made some gasp-inducing catches when arriving this week in training camp.

“He leaped up to make a onehanded catch, and the ball just stuck to his hand, and everybody just went ‘wow,’ ” said Cardilicchia.

Trey Campbell is a returning running back who will also factor in the passing game.

“Trey is going to get a lot of [passing] looks out of the backfield and will be one of the top receivers in the league this season,” predicted Cardilicchia.

The defensive side of the ball for the Rebels is highlighted by a big line that Cardilicchia describes as “nasty.” It includes six-foot-three, 300-pound Kent Hicks and six-foot-three Jeremie Druin, who were both at the CFL combine, and six-foot-six Chris Larsen from the University of Guelph Gryphons of U Sports.

“I tell my players there are a lot of physical similarities between junior football players and that the difference between being good and great is the mental aspect,” said Cardilicchia.

Because of scheduled turf replacement at Westhills Stadium, tonight is the first of three road games to start the season for Westshore. The second week takes the Rebels to Nanaimo for the always emotionally-pitched derby against the Vancouver Island Raiders and the third week to Chilliwack to meet the Valley Huskers.

“There are a lot of pros and cons to it,” said Cardilicchia.

“But if we start 2-1 on the road, we will be galvanized for the rest of the season, because five of our last seven games are at home.”

Four of those will be consecutive home dates against Langley, Chilliwack, Kamloops and the Raiders from Aug. 19 to Sept. 16 at Westhills.

“Tonight will show us a lot,” said Cardilicchia, noting the Rebels-Sun opener is between league heavyweights.

“But that said, no team has ever made the playoffs at 1-0 and no team has ever missed the playoffs at 0-1.”