It’s becoming more and more evident that the New Westminster Hyacks have a first-rate secondary.
The senior AAA football team’s backfield boys played a huge role in New West’s 56-7 lambasting of the Belmont Bulldogs, improving their own record to 7-1 and 5-0 in the conference.
Timely interceptions and fumble recoveries proved to be the powderkeg for New West’s explosive attack. After Sebastien Reid opened the scoring on the team’s second series with a 70-yard touchdown catch, Grade 10 defensive back Taran Birdi pulled down an interception and returned it to the third-yard line. Sammy Sidhu carried it the rest of the way to make it 14-0.
Reid would punctuate the first quarter by catching another Kinsale Philip pass, this time a 52-yard toss, and added a 54-yard punt return.
New West continued to find offensive holes in the second quarter, when Philip darted in from 12 yards out, and Sidhu bolted free on a 38-yard major. Michael Kingsley upped the lead to 49-0 before the half on a 28-yard dash.
“We only had 26 offensive plays and still scored 49 offensive points,” remarked Hyacks coach Farhan Lalji. “It’s a testament of how good our defence was, the great field position they kept giving us and turnovers.”
The defence stifled Belmont’s top star, receiver Eli Nelms-Horton, with both Birdi and Reid establishing a presence early. Nelms-Horton was limited to just one catch for two yards in the first half.
“We shut (Nelms-Horton) down quite well and you could see, you kind of got the sense we took him out of the game by his body language,” noted Lalji. “Defensively, our guys did a great job on him and we were also able to shut down (Belmont’s) run game. Offensively, we were very explosive. Not many epic drives but a lot of big plays.”
Rounding out the offence was Lucas Sabau hitting receiver Finn Stark for a 38-yard major.
Philip only attempted three passes, but completing two for long touchdowns and 121 total yards.
The rushing tandem of Sabau and Sidhu – with running back Broxx Comia sidelined by an injury – only carried nine times between them. However, with the workload spread out and the defence providing great field position, there wasn’t any real heavy lifting required.
Add in the fact that the squad did a good job of addressing unnecessary penalties – partially responsible for 10 TDs called back over the year – and the coaching staff came away pleased.
“We’re getting there. The big thing was our discipline and our sense of team,” said Lalji. “We played unselfishly and kept the team goals first.
“It’s sometimes easier to do that in the one-sided games than in the close, intense contests, but this was a step in the right direction.”
Next up for New West is Carson Graham. The Hyacks visit the North Shore on Friday (3:45 p.m.) to take on the 0-5 Eagles.
