Sun’s Dheilly wins weekly defensive award
The Okanagan Sun are unbeaten through two weeks of the B.C. Football Conference season and have two weekly awards to show for their efforts.
The Sun (1-0-1) were forced to settle for an 18-18 tie with the rival Westshore Rebels (1-0-1) this past Saturday in Victoria after routing the Kamloops Broncos 56-6 in their season opener on Aug. 5.
Against Westshore, new defensive lineman Nicholas Dheilly had a whale of a game with four quarterback sacks, two tackles and one assist to earn defensive player of the week honours.
Dheilly, who joined the Sun from the University of Regina Rams this season, could challenge for the BCFC’s single-season sack record.
Okanagan’s defence combined for nine total sacks against the Rebels, and the Sun nearly knocked off the defending regular-season champions, coming within a missed field goal on the final play of the game, which counted as a single to produce the draw.
In Week 1, linebacker Conor Richard shined on special teams — winning that award after returning a kickoff for a touchdown.
Week 3 has the Sun in Chilliwack this Saturday to face the Valley Huskers (1-1-0) in a 7 p.m. kickoff.
The Huskers, who are playing their third straight home game to start the season, upset the defending playoff champion Vancouver Island Raiders 33-31 in Week 1 before falling 42-9 to the Langley Rams in Week 2.
The Sun are opening with four road games in a row before hosting Langley (1-1-0) on Saturday, Sept. 8 in their home opener at the Apple Bowl in Kelowna.
Okanagan closes out that gruelling road stretch next Saturday, Aug. 25, in Langley. The Rams suffered a 19-16 home loss to the Rebels in their season opener on Aug. 4 before bouncing back to beat the Huskers on the road.
The standings are tight through two weeks of play, with Okanagan and Westshore tied on top with three points, while Vancouver Island, Langley and Chilliwack all have two points. Kamloops is bringing up the rear, with no points and an 0-2 record, after getting blanked 42-0 by the Raiders in Week 2.
The Week 3 schedule also has Langley visiting Vancouver Island in Nanaimo, while Kamloops will host Westshore on Saturday.