staff reporter
With the Valley Community Football League playoffs looming, the Meadow Ridge Knights served notice last weekend that they will be a force to be reckoned with.
The junior bantam Knights earned their sixth shutout of the season on Saturday, defeating Mission 36-0. Defensively, Thomas Janke, Devon Keoughan, Dylan Lacey and Adam Chislett had strong performances to keep the Mission offence off the board. On the other side of the ball, the Knights’ offence was able to give three different players plays at quarterback, while Rickey Lacey stood out on special teams with his kick coverage. With the win, the Knights finish first in their division with a 9-1 record and will host the Chilliwack Red Giants in the first round of VCFL playoffs this Saturday at Samuel Robertson Technical at 2 p.m.
The atom Gold Knights also finished up their season with a 9-1 record after shutting out the Chilliwack White Giants 6-0 on Saturday. The entire team played a great game, much as they have all season, and will face North Langley in the first round of the playoffs this Saturday at home after finishing first in their division.
Not far behind the Gold Knights were the Meadows Ridge Blue Knights atom team, which finished the season with a 7-3 record after beating the Chilliwack Red Giants 33-20. The first half was a defensive battle as both teams refused to allow the opposing offence to gain any yards. The Knights defence was led by Dallas Pattenden, who teamed up with Riley Rooney to contain the outside, while Lucas Deane and the Hawke brothers, Tristan and Dominick, locked up the middle. The game was scoreless at half time, however, Ethan Holland, Carlos Redekopp and Tyson Smith got the Knights’ offence moving with trips to the endzone. Special teams made the difference for the Knights, as Cody Hogarth returned a Giants’ kick 70 yards for a touchdown.
The Blue Knights finish third in their division and face the Chilliwack White Giants this weekend in the first round of playoffs.
The peewee Gold Knights beat the Abbotsford White Falcons 16-6 to take second place in their division with an 8-2 record.
The defence led the way with Harrison Longhi, Justin Nickel and Cade Cote shutting down the Abbotsford running attack. Micah Cavalli intercepted a pass in the second half to help keep the Falcons from mounting a come back. The offence was led by Tim Janke who followed strong blocking of Mason Reeves, Cody Stewart and Angus MacDonald.
The Gold Knights host the Chilliwack Blue Gaints at home in the first round of the playoffs on Saturday.
The peewee Blue Knights lost 12-0 to the Chilliwack Red Giants to finish their season 3-7, out of the playoffs.
The midget Knights had their best game of the season, but wound up losing 28-21 to Langley.
The Knights struggled early in the game and fell behind 21-0. The Knights’ offense seemed to wake up late in the first half as the offensive line of Wyatt Durocher, Travis McCrea, Elijah Goerzen and Brock Loewen began to dominate the Langley defensive line, allowing Cory Takahara, Daniel Childress, Ross Allam, Matt Newlove, Cole Warren and Tanner Hartley to move the ball.
Defensively, Marc Kalmykov, Garett Thon, Josh Rodgers, Taran Humphrey, Wes Davidson, Doug McNally, Taylor Connolly and Nic Stoyeff shut down the Langley offence in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to pull off the win.
Despite the loss, the Knights finish the season 4-6 and advance to the playoffs this coming weekend.
The bantam Knights team lost 53-19 to Langley over the weekend. Brian Dongalen scored two touchdowns for the Knights, while Hayden South had a 10-yard touchdown run. Jessie Goerzen led the defence with numerous tackles and Dallas Samson had his best game of the season. The bantam team finishes their regular season this week.