Decisively dominant, the New Westminster Hyacks defence laid down the law Friday and proceeded to handcuff the Abbotsford Panthers’ offence.
The end result was a prettyconvincing 40-6 exhibition win for the defending B.C. champions, as they celebrated the annual Homecoming game festivities.
And while there was plenty of pomp and circumstance before the opening kick-off, the big noise was the game itself, and how New West executed its gameplan to a ‘T.’
It all centred around a defence that gave no quarters, held the Panthers to 76 yards of offence, and generated enough turnovers – seven -- to supply a Pillsbury franchise.
“Defensively, our group played pretty much lights out,” remarked Hyacks head coach Farhan Lalji. “(Abbotsford wasn’t) getting much of anything, big, small or otherwise. We were swarming. They have a big physical line and we did a good job of getting after them and getting into the back field to make it hard on their running backs and quarterback.”
Outside of a couple of kick returns, the Panthers were held captive and limited to a single third-down converted chance.
They did return their first kick deep into New West territory, but the Hyacks defence shut that down quickly. At the other end, New West opened the scoring when quarterback Kinsale Philip dashed 48 yards for six points.
Defensive back Ajay Chol made it 12-0 with a 25-yard interception return before the end of the half. He would begin the second quarter with a 52-yard TD catch from Philip, upping the lead to a comfortable 19-0 score.
Into the second half, another Abbotsford turnover led to Philip’s one-yard QB keep, and was followed by Shaye Rathjen’s 39-yard fumble return. It stood at 34-0 and looked like a whitewash.
The lone blemish came on the kick return after Rathjen’s major, when the Panthers’ Ryan Street gathered up the kick and rambled right, 90 yards into the New West end zone.
While the Hyacks continued to threaten and had two majors called back due to penalties, the final score came from Mahtab Garcha’s nine-yard dash with six minutes remaining.
Even with some impressive drives to the list of highlights, New West’s win, which put them 2-1 overall, 1-0 in conference play, was all about the defence.
“I think a lot of really good turnovers – our defence was like lights out all game,” said Philip, who finished with eight pass completions on 13 attempts for 87 yards, and 64 yards garnered on eight runs. “The only points they got was on special teams. Our offence was executing but they were blitzing a bit more than we anticipated. It was a really good game and I think we improved in a lot of areas.”
Because Lalji had made a point of how the week previous’ win – a regular season-opening 36-14 decision over Carson Graham – had its share of flaws, the team was focused on putting out a clean, lean performance.
Beyond a few second half offside penalties that wiped out a pair of majors, the effort was efficient and on task, which gave the coach cause to smile, and credited his quarterback for setting the tone.
“Last week I think we let the crowd affect our emotions and we took some dumb penalities and did some dumb things,” said Lalji. “(Against Abbotsford) we really focused on what is important, and that’s the performance; it wasn’t celebrating for the fans and all the non-football related things. Kinsale did a really good job to keep his emotions and make sure others did, too.”
New West finished with 264 total yards and limited Abbotsford to just 76 and just three first downs. Greyson Planinsic picked up a game-high tackles, while defensive player-of-the-game Evan Nolli, Titgol Jok and Rathjen had three apiece. Grade 10 Vishaan Narayan, meanwhile, continued to impress on both sides of the line.
“Evan was strong and Vishaan was really, really good for a second straight game. He’s only a 10th grader so he’s only going to get better,” said Lalji. “I thought he was dominant (on the defensive line), but right across the board, whether it was Evan, Saahil Bhambra, Darrio Cade, or any of the guys we rolled through there they played well.”
Now, it’s back to regular season action with a game on the North Shore against 1-1 Handsworth, who fell victim to Mount Douglas 36-19 last week.
Getting away from near-perfect home conditions, where more than 2,000 fans turned out despite a wet weather forecast, will be another test for the reigning champs.
“(Handsworth) is a good team,” noted Lalji. “(Receiver) Keelan White is one of the best players in the province, and he may be the best skilled player in the province so we’ll have our work cut out with him. They’ve got some other good pieces, so the meat grinder of the AAA west begins.”
