Defending BCFC champs up next for Rebels

GAME DAY: WESTSHORE AT LANGLEY, 4 P.M.

Two weeks into the B.C. Football Conference schedule, the road doesn’t get any easier for the Westshore Rebels.

After a somewhat nightmarish beginning to the season off the field, the Rebels opened against the Vancouver Island Raiders last Saturday at Westhills Stadium. Today, they’re travelling to Langley to face the defending BCFC champion Rams, kicking off at 4 p.m.

After coming out of the 35-10 loss to the Raiders with more confidence than expected, the Rebels hope to keep it going.

“We always come into games against Nanaimo a little bit skeptical — we’ve never beat them,” said defensive lineman Chris Pastro, a third-year veteran on the team. Pastro was the defensive player of the week in the BCFC for notching five tackles, four assists, a sack and interception against the Raiders.

“At the half, we were only down six points. We thought, ‘we can do this.’ ”

The Rebels didn’t do it, but scratch out a few errors here and there, and the game might have had a dif- ferent outcome. Knowing he has to take a leadership role on the team, Pastro said the Rebels just need to limit the mistakes.

“A lot of the game, we were shooting ourselves in the foot.”

In reality, the Rebels were winners just being able to field a team last weekend. The perfect storm of off-field woes saw general manager Roger Wade, former coach John Cardilicchia and Cardilicchia’s replacement Scott Mennie all leave the team for family reasons and other commitments. The upheaval, along with ever-looming financial difficulties, nearly scuttled the season.

Refusing to give up, a small group of supporters, led by co-presidents Elise Pastro and Sue Fournier and GM Danielle Mennie found new uniforms, got former CFLer Tim Kearse to step in as interim head coach, and told the boys the game was on.

“Those women were the glue that held everything together. Otherwise, I don’t know what would have happened to the club,” Kearse said.

With their season underway, the Rebels are now looking for a few more bodies to fill the ranks, although the offensive line got a hefty boost this week, with the return of veteran Kyle Daechsel, a 6-foot-4, 270pounder, and the 265-pound Mel Big Stony. Better protection will give quarterback Mark Black more time to set up plays, and wide receiver Eric Eggleston — one of only a couple of players in their final year of junior eligibility — believes the Rebels have plenty of ability to score points.

“We’re going to be aggressive, that’s for sure, and take a fair shot at putting the ball in the air,” said Eggleston, who figured the key to success will be to keep things simple for the young squad. “As the weeks go on, we’ll be able to update the offence.”

Simple will likely be the byword, as Kearse plans to develop the team through the structured process he’s learned in a decade of pro experience playing in both the NFL and CFL, as well as coaching for several CFL teams. He saw glimmers of good things against Nanaimo.

“I saw some guys that can potentially make some plays and make something happen in this league,” Kearse said, adding Langley has both numbers and size going for them as was evident in their 51-0 thrashing of the Kamloops Broncos in their season opener.

“We’re going to go in there and slay the giant, as they say. I think it’s a matter of the guys just believing and trusting in each other.”