The road to redemption for the New Westminster Hyacks begins with the small step of tackling better.
The Hyacks lost 41-0 at Mercer Stadium to the Notre Dame Jugglers on Friday night, the second straight week the New Westminster squad has lost a league game by that scoreline, and head coach Farhan Lalji said the team has to simplify its goals for the rest of the season.
"I want our goals to be smaller," said Lalji. "I'd like us to play one game where we feel good about our level of execution, our physicality and our tackling. - Even if we lose, I still want us to feel like we played our best. - We need to narrow our goals."
While clearly disappointed with how his team has played in the last month - the two 41-0 losses came after a 62-14 home loss to Lord Tweedsmuir - Lalji hasn't given up on his players.
"We had a walk-through Friday because of a professional development day," said Lalji. "The players knew what to expect and they were prepared. - It just didn't show on Friday night.- We, as a coaching staff, will continue to try everything, and I know we're not there yet, but we can still get something out of this season. - I want them to know what it feels like to play a good game."
It all fell apart for the Hyacks in the first two minutes of Friday night's game as Ante Litre picked off a Tommy Robertson pass and then scored the first of his three touchdowns on the subsequent Notre Dame possession.
The Hyacks would be down 28 by the second minute of the second quarter after giving up two long kick returns.
"They had 28 on the board and had less than 100 yards from (scrimmage)," said Lalji. "We didn't make them earn their points. - It would be insane for
me to say they weren't a better team than us, but we have to turn it up and make teams earn their points."
The Hyacks got commendable performances from Makoto Brennen with 12 tackles on defence and Pavan Mrock with 68 yards on 10 rushes on offence.
The road doesn't get easier for the Hyacks because they go to Vancouver Island this Friday to face the Mt. Douglas Rams.
"They may have the best collection of skill players in the province this year," said Lalji, referencing Washington Statebound senior tailback Terrell Davis, quarterback Jordan Deverill and receiver Taylor Young.
That trio accounted for all the Rams' scoring at Vancouver College last Saturday, as Davis returned a kickoff 85 yards for one score, ran another in from 11 yards out and Deverill connected with Young on a TD pass for the final Mt. Douglas score in a 24-19 loss.
Deverill would finish 15-of-29 for 231 yards, Young with five receptions for 81 yards and Davis had 100 yards from scrimmage, including 12 rushes for 54 yards and three catches for 46 yards.
"We have to continue working on our tackling," Lalji said of his team's practice plans this week. "Last year, we did an OK job of keeping Terrell's numbers down, but we're not a real fast team (this year), so it's hard to simulate Terrell's speed in practice.
- What we do have to do is get to him early because if he gets loose, we probably won't get to him."
On a bright note, the Hyacks held their annual fundraiser auction on Saturday night at La Perla Ballroom at the River Market.
"I think this was our best event ever," said Lalji. "The venue's fantastic and we had a really good selection of auction items."
A late addition to the auction list was a Ryan Kesler stick, which was almost as highly sought-after as the Grey Cup package Lalji helped put together.
Lalji was also happy to honour outgoing New Westminster school trustee Brent Atkinson with a special football recognition award.
"Brent has been one of our biggest supporters from the outset," said Lalji. "When we wanted to restart the program in 2003, Brent really wanted to see it happen.- Now that he's retiring, we wanted to honour him. I don't think there's been any politician who's been at more of our games than Brent, and he told us that even though he won't be a trustee, he'll still help us in any way he can. He's a good guy."
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