Eagles soar on back of Nylander
Fifth-ranked Carson Graham upsets No. 3 seeded Abbotsford Panthers to win Double A Subway Bowl
In the end, Tyler Nylander, the kid who switched from wide receiver to quarterback would end up being the biggest catch of all for the Carson Graham Eagles.
When fall camp rolled around at the North Vancouver school, and the Eagles needed someone to fill the void as their starting quarterback, they asked their unselfish senior if he would be willing to make a most crucial and difficult switch.
On Saturday, the move looked like a stroke of genius.
While the opposition Abbotsford Panthers did their level best to adjust for the early loss of star wide receiver Chase Claypool to what looks to be a hip injury, Nylander was dishing daggers from the shotgun, rushing for seven touchdowns and leading the No. 5-ranked Cinderella Eagles to a 53-34 win and the Subway Bowl B.C. Double A championship title.
“I had played a little bit of quarterback as a junior, but this year, it’s just something I did for the good of the team,” said Nylander as the Eagles won their first senior varsity football title since winning the Triple A title back in 2001. “And it feels good.”
Nylander, who rushed for 10 touchdowns all season heading into the final, was simply unstoppable on the rug at B.C. Place. Reading his talented offensive line, his patience, poise and most of all purpose, allowed him to find the seams and generate huge gains.
Nylander opened the third quarter with a 53-yard scoring run to put the Eagles up 26-21.
Although Abbotsford’s Samwell Uko responded on the ensuing kickoff with a 90-yard scoring return to put the Panthers on top 28-26, Nylander responded with three straight majors.
First he scored from 15 yards, then he scored from 52 yards, and when he went 28 yards down the sideline with eight seconds remaining in the third quarter, Carson Graham was sitting with a 46-28 lead.
Contrasting the success that Nylander was having with the Eagles, was the frustration Claypool was having with the Panthers.
The Notre Dame-bound senior star receiver had opened the scoring when he went up between a pair of Carson Graham defenders to bring down a 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback John Madigan.
However, with 26 seconds left in the quarter, Claypool went down hard in the end zone attempting to haul in another TD pass.
He landed awkwardly, and had to be helped off the field by a pair of team personnel, unable to put much if any weight on his right leg.
Claypool sat the rest of the half, and entered B.C. Place at the start of the second half carrying his shoulder pads.
As Nylander continued his assault on the Abby defence, those pads went back on, and Claypool tried valiantly to play a few snaps.
He went back to the sideline and later emerged in the fourth quarter to throw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Maasin Thompson that drew the Panthers to within 46-34.
Richard Tshimpaka with a 17-yard rushing major, and Thompson with a 19-yard catch accounted for the other Abbotsford scores.
Carson Graham running back Flynn Heyes also scored on a 15-yard run in the first half.