The junior varsity Hyacks got a little ahead of themselves, nearly giving up some easy points to visiting Belmont on Friday afternoon.
The juniors opened the second half of the game at Mercer Stadium with an impressive 21-6 lead. But they just about lost it when, in the third quarter, one of the Belmont Bulldogs broke through the hometown boys’ defence and was stopped just shy of the Hyacks’ goal line. Still, the run garnered a first down for the visitors only a yard or two away from a touchdown, but the junior Hyacks were able to hold them to that distance, stopping the Bulldogs’ offence in their tracks and turning the ball over on downs.
The Hyacks followed the turnover with a 96-yard touchdown run by Hyacks’ running back Robertson Yagyog.
Lineman Garret Gogal, meanwhile, helped secure the Hyacks’ win by recovering a fumble in the Bulldogs’ end zone to make it 35-6 for the home team. Gogal is now the second junior lineman to score a touchdown this season.
This Friday, the junior boys play their second game of the regular season against conference rivals Vancouver College on the road in Vancouver.
Varsity boys win big
New Westminster Secondary’s varsity Hyacks also pulled off a big win last week beating the Belmont AAA varsity team 42-7 at home.
Coming off a bye week and a strong showing during the exhibition season, the Hyacks had a sloppy start to their first western conference regular season game, according to head coach Farhan Lalji.
“Eventually, we were able to get our playmakers the ball and had a lot of big plays. We still have a lot of room for improvement before next week, especially with our tackling. It's good to get the first league win out of the way, and now we get into the meat of our schedule,” Lalji said in an email to the Record.
The Hyacks retaliated after Belmont scored the first touchdown of the game, scoring three touchdowns of their own in the opening quarter. Three more touchdowns followed to secure the Hyacks’ 42-7 win.
