Raiders empty bench in victory over Trojans

August 24, 2009

Author: Michael Rhode, Daily News

Vancouver Island Raiders head coach Matt Blokker was able to exhaust his bench on Saturday.

When everybody gets a chance to play on a 50-plus player roster, that means one of two things -- you are either up big-time on the scoreboard or down big-time.

Chalk up another of those big-time wins.

The Raiders improved to 3-0 in B.C. Football Conference play with 76-26 win over the winless Vancouver Trojans at the Burnaby Sports Complex.

Things got out of hand on the scoreboard very quickly.

In the first quarter, the Raiders scored long touchdowns on their first four offensive players -- two long passes from quarterback Jordan Yantz and two lengthy runs by tailback Andrew Harris.

Official statistics from the BCFC were unavailable at press time.

"Everyone got in," said Blokker. "There's areas in every game where you are happy and other areas where you could do better at. It's hard to keep a team intense. We're not used to scoring as many points as what we are doing right now.

"So far, in every one of our games right now, we've had to stay pretty intense even though we're up a certain amount of points."

Yantz played the full first half. Marc Migneault played the majority of the third quarter at quarterback then Derek Cooper came on to close out the game. As for the amazing execution the Raiders exhibited, it's almost unheard of.

"That's not normal scoring 28 points on four touches," said Blokker. "It's enjoyable to watch. Right now offensively, we're in a little bit of a groove. Andrew is going to do what Andrew is going to do but we have other players who are contributing.

"I like the progression of our quarterbacks. For the Raiders, it's something that we haven't had a whole lot of in the past."

Saturday's win was a lead up to a bigger game this weekend, down Island against the Victoria Rebels.

It will be a battle for first place, the 3-0 Raiders against the 3-1 Rebels.

Victoria had held sole possession of top spot heading into the weekend but suffered a big loss, 37-16 to the South Surrey Rams on the weekend.

Game time this Saturday is 7 p.m. at Bear Mountain Stadium in Langford. The Raiders next home game is Sept. 5 at Caledonia Park against the Okanagan Sun.

South Fraser is also 3-1. Their only loss was to the Raiders two weeks ago.