The Westshore Rebels (6-1) are looking to extend their six-game winning streak in the B.C. junior Football Conference when they host the Langley Rams (5-0-1) on Saturday.
It’s the Rebels’ final home game of the regular season. Kickoff is 4 p.m. at Westhills Stadium.
“We have an attitude where we take what we want,” said head coach John Cardilicchia. “We are ready to spill our guts and leave everything on the field.”
The Rebels are coming off a 33-3 road win over the Chilliwack Huskers on Saturday (Sept. 22).
“If we win on Saturday it would virtually guarantee us a home playoff game,” said Roger Wade, Rebels president. “In my 10 years as president, we haven’t hosted a playoff game. I would love to be sitting here at home instead of on the road.”
The thought of winning a seventh game in a row brings Wade, a Langford councillor, back to 1982 when he was defensive tackle for the Victoria Hornets, and enjoyed a seven-game winning streak of his own. Wade played for the team from 1981 to 1983.
It’s a continuation of the resurgent Rebels, who won five games last year and lost in the semifinals to the Vancouver Island Raiders. The Rebels’ only regular season loss this year came at the beginning of the season, also to the Raiders. Since then the Rebels have knocked off the Chilliwack Huskers twice, the Kamloops Broncos twice and the Okanagan Sun once. The Rebels’ and Rams’ only meeting this year was in preseason, which the Rams won 35-30.
“The Rams were the last team I ever lost to in 1982,” Wade said.
Leading the way for the Rebels against Chilliwack on Saturday was running back Greg Morris, who carried the ball 19 times for 150 yards, one of them a 43-yard scamper, while scoring two touchdowns. Receivers Eric Eggleston and Fik Yitna each recorded a touchdown pass and kicker Quinn Van Gylswyk hit a 32-yard field goal and converted all four touchdowns.
Rebels with a cause
The Rebels have been raising funds for three-year-old Hannah Day of Langford. Hannah is battling a rare form of cancer and her parents have both left their jobs to care for her.
The team raised more than $500 for the family at a car wash, Sept. 14. The money will be presented to the family at the home game, Sept. 29. As part of the fundraiser, all students with valid I.D, can come to the game against the Langley Rams for a $2 donation to the Day family.