Cougars claim junior football title
Polars, Roadrunners prepare for senior P.G. Bowl
Next Saturday when the College Heights Cougars line up on their side of the Masich Place Stadium turf to take on the South Kamloops Titans in their B.C. Secondary Schools Football Association junior varsity playoff quarterfinal, the Cougars will be right at home.
Now that the city has a field turf playing surface, Prince George teams no longer have to travel to Kamloops or Chilliwack to fill a home playoff date and that suits the Cougars just fine. The less travel, the better.
Home or away, it doesn’t seem to matter to their bottom line. College Heights has been on an undefeated roll since the season started in September and Tuesday night in the junior varsity P.G. Bowl the Cougars improved to 8-0 with their
40-14 win over the Nechako Valley Vikings.
That win gave them the right to fill the host team slot and host a playoff game in Prince George for the first time since the formation of the BCSSFA’s North Division in 2016.
The Vikings had their hands full trying to contain the Cougars’ lightning-and-thunder running backs – Austin Adams and Alex Thanos – who both scored two touchdowns in Tuesday’s North Division championship final.
“Austin Adams is lightning in a bottle, that kid, he is fast and he covers up a lot of mistakes,” said Cougars head coach Grant Erickson. “His play is the sweep and if he gets the corner he’s gone. There’s nobody who can catch him.”
The six-foot, 185-pound Thanos was the player of the game for College Heights – a constant threat rushing the ball and a speedy sure-handed receiver. He hauled in several passes and was a beast from his inside linebacker position, leading a pass rush which kept Vikings quarterback Kayden Young scrambling out of the pocket.
“Alex carried the heavy lifting on those inside runs and if you’re able to move the ball inside then that opens everything up,” said Erickson.
The Cougars scored on their first drive of the game but Nechako Valley kept it close until the second quarter. The Cougars were within striking distance again in the first drive of the second quarter and had the ball on the Vikings’ two-yard line when Nolan Weinhardt intercepted a Jerome Erickson pass. Weinhardt appeared to be heading for TD territory when he dropped to the turf in pain at the College Heights 30-yard line, in agony after dislocating his hip. Fred Nelson ran the ball across the goal line few plays later.
On the ensuing kickoff, Adams ran it back 75 yards for a major. The Cougars added two more touchdowns after Adams scored and took a 26-6 lead into the locker room at halftime.
“They’re a big strong tough team and the score doesn’t reflect how the game went – it was a lot closer than the score, they made us work for that one,” said coach Erickson.
His son Jerome threw for 110 yards and two touchdowns. Hayden Matheson hauled in two Erickson passes for touchdowns, one from 15 yards out and one from 25 yards. Matheson also patrols the Cougar backfield and had three interceptions Tuesday.
Offensive guard/defensive end Teancum Arnold, who stands six-foot-one and weighs 230 pounds, was the player of the game for Nechako Valley. The Vikings scored their second touchdown on a scramble, a long pass from Wyatt Steffy to quarterback Kayden Young.
In addition to their six wins against North Division teams (which includes a 2-0 forfeit decision over Nechako Valley), the Cougars played two provincial opponents in road exhibition games in September. They beat Robert Bateman 38-0 on Sept. 15 in Abbotsford, then traveled to North Vancouver the following week, where they defeated Argyle 22-12.
South Kamloops finished second in the Interior Division with a 4-3-0 record to qualify for the quarterfinal round. On Sept. 22 in junior varsity exhibition play in Kamloops, the Titans topped the Kelly Road Roadrunners 38-0.
“It’s going to be awesome, I can’t wait,” said Grant Erickson, who has sideline help from assistant coaches Tommy Heinzelman and Rob Sherlock. “We have hosted (a provincial playoff) before but it’s always been at the closest turf field to us, but we were still the host team.
“I think we’re in a good spot. This group sees how far they’ve advanced since they started and I keep telling them it’s just a product of their hard work in practice. They expect to be competitive every time they take the field and I love working with them, it’s a great group of kids.”
• In the senior P.G. Bowl Friday night at Masich, the Prince George Polars and Kelly Road Roadrunners will meet in the Northern Conference senior double-A varsity championship (7:30 p.m. start), otherwise known as the P.G. Bowl. For the Polars, who won all three of their regular-season games and beat Nechako Valley 54-16 in a semifinal last week, it’s a chance to defend their title and remain undefeated.
PGSS beat College Heights 31-11 for the Matt Pearce Memorial Trophy last year.
The Roadrunners advanced after their 12-8 semifinal win over College Heights.
The Cougars and Vikings will clash in the third-place playoff Friday at 5 p.m. at Masich.
That win gave them the right to fill the host team slot and host a playoff game in Prince George for the first time since the formation of the BCSSFA’s North Division in 2016.