The season came down to a final fourth-quarter play for the New Westminster Hyacks AAA varsity football team.
For a second straight game, the senior Hyacks came away without a score in the final minute of play this time resulting in a 26-23 loss to the Centennial Centaurs in the first round of B.C. high school football playoffs at Mercer Stadium last Friday.
Hyack quarterback Tommy Robertson was intercepted by J.P. Kalambay in the final minute that stopped a promising Hyack drive inside the Centennial 30 yard line.
A week earlier, the Hyacks lost a similar three-point outing to Handsworth, after having the game-winning touchdown called back on a penalty and the ensuing field goal to tie miss the mark.
“There were a lot of plays we left out there. But I don’t know that is why we lost,” said Hyacks head coach Farhan Lalji. “It’s tough. I thought it would be different. I thought we had learned from last week.”
But turnovers did play a role in the final outcome.
Once again, problems with the snap from centre on at least four separate occasions upset the Hyacks’ rhythm on offence.
Untimely penalties also cost New West some points, including an infraction off a late second-quarter pass to James Nicolas off a fake punt that negated a first-and-goal situation.
New West did manage to tie the score 8-8 following a blocked punt by Bogdan Pavel that was recovered by Jeremy Stewart inside the Centennial red zone.Robertson scored from 12 yards out to knot the game.
But the Centaurs quickly answered that one on a 66-yard pass from Nick Okamoto to Jay Jay Jackson on the next play from scrimmage.
“I love them for fighting through our mistakes. … I wanted that for them. But we had higher expectations and it was disappointing,” Lalji said.
New West closed the deficit to 20-15 on a late 11-play drive in the third quarter that was capped off by a short run by Angelo Tanjuaquio, his first of two touchdowns in the game.
The Hyacks made a defensive stop on the Centaur’s next possession but an untimely mishandled punt by Tristan Sands gave the ball back to Centennial on the one-yard line. Okamoto scored this third TD of the game on a sneak.
New West drove downfield again, keeping the drive alive despite two major penalties and a fumbled snap against them, culminating in Tanjuaquio’s touchdown that shaved the deficit to three points.
The Hyack defence also responded with a big play, stopping the Centuars on a fake punt that gave the home team back the ball near midfield.
But Robertson’s ?? interception of the year proved costly.
“I just knew it wasn’t over,” Robertson said. “I know we made mistakes. But truly, I thought we were going to get (the touchdown). It’s so awful to end the season that way. But I feel glad to wear this jersey.”
Gurveer Dhaliwal and Sands had 42 and 44 yards receiving, respectively.
Robertson passed for 10 of 19 for 99 yards.
Tanjuaquio rushed for 83 total yards, while Julian Ramirez had 60 yards on the ground.
Okamoto passed for 126 total yards, while Kalambay had 95 yards along the ground.
For Robertson and the rest of the Hyack seniors the team’s final 6-4 record was the first winning season in their high school football careers.
As juniors, the Hyacks’ graduating seniors won a total of just three games in two sessons of junior varsity ball.
In their final season of high school football, the Hyacks were essentially just two plays away from sporting an 8-2 record.
“It was a group this year and our first year with a winning season in football. So I’m glad I could get that,” Robertson added.
Lalji was also happy this group of seniors got to experience the post season after missing the playoffs last year.
“It was good we got to play this game,” he said. “Compared to what we were, we took a step.”
Centennial moved on against Terry Fox.
