Everything seemed to come together for the varsity Hyacks’ football team last week.
The boys in black and orange hosted their annual homecoming celebration and game on Friday night at Mercer Stadium. The New Westminster Secondary AAA team was up against the No. 2 AA varsity team, G.W. Graham, a team coming off a 33-0 win over John Barsby from Nanaimo.
The Hyacks, meanwhile, were fresh off a loss the previous week against Terry Fox Secondary and definitely had something to prove.
Senior running back Jordan Guzman got things rolling early for the Hyacks, scoring a touchdown on a five-yard run in the first quarter to make it 7-0 for the home team.
“We played very well in the first half and kept the mistakes and penalties to a minimum. That’s how you need to play to beat good teams,” Hyacks head coach Farhan Lalji said.
In the second quarter, Trew Dancey scored the Hyacks’ second touchdown of the game to make it 14-3 for the Hyacks. Dancey’s goal was quickly followed by a third Hyack touchdown, this time scored by running back Gurvir Ghuman, who ran for 32 yards to make it 21-3 at halftime.
Ghuman was named player of the game, Lalji said. The 5-10 and 175-pound senior rushed for a total of 70 yards during the game, hoisting the Hyacks to a game total 211 yards rushing.
During the second half, the Hyacks held G.W. Graham to 10 points securing a 21-10 win over the visiting Chilliwack team.
“Graham was a very good challenge as expected, now it’s time to take advantage of the bye, come down from the homecoming cloud, and get refocused on for the start of league play,” Lalji added.
The varsity Hyacks are off this week after four weeks of exhibition play.
They return to Mercer Stadium on Oct. 9 for their first game of the western conference regular season against Vancouver Island’s Belmont Secondary. Game time is at 5 p.m.
