Pre-game antics backfire as rams blast rebels
Langley rose to the challenge in a huge way Saturday at Victoria's Bear Mountain Stadium
Langley Rams' running back Daniel Xavier rolled forward after being brought down by a pair of Westshore Rebels tacklers Saturday ta Bear Mountain Stadium in Victoria. The visiting Rams downed the Rebels 41-7 in a game pitting two of the top teams in the B.C. Football Conference.
Photograph by: Cornelia Naylor , Glacier Media
Mess with the Rams, you get the horns.
The Westshore Rebels found this out the hard way Saturday at Bear Mountain Stadium in Victoria.
A few Rebels thought they were going to inject fear into the Langley Rams getting into the grills of their opponents before the game got underway.
Needless to say, the strategy backfired.
Fired up, Langley's junior football team owned a very tough Rebels squad, winning 41-7.
The victory catapulted the Rams past the Rebels in the B.C. Football Conference standings.
Langley is now 6-1-1, one point up on the 6-2 Rebels.
Nanaimo's Vancouver Island Raiders, who the Rams will meet this Saturday at McLeod Stadium, sits on top of the six-team BCFC with a 7-0-1 mark.
The Rams need one point out of their final two regular season contests to take second place and host a playoff game.
Rams' head coach Jeff Alamolhoda said the pre-game antics almost erupted into a full-scale brawl.
"It was definitely something you don't see very often. The refs had to interject and send both teams to the sidelines."
Alamolhoda said. "They [the Rebels] thought they could bully us. What happened is it encouraged us to play harder and stronger, and brought us together as a team. The guys started fighting for each other."
According to Alamolhoda the Rams remained on their side of the field.
Face-to-face, the opposing players began screaming at each other, Alamolhoda remarked. Once the game got underway, the Rams channeled their energy into a dominating performance.
"It was our best group effort that we've put on the field all year, absolutely,"
Alamolhoda said. "We responded really well and didn't do it by taking penalties or by cheap-shotting them and playing dirty."
The Rams' defence swarmed around the ball and their offence played physically and never quit, the team's head coach said.
On special teams, punter Nick Naylor had an great game, putting the ball in strategic spots.
"This was an all-around good situation for our club to understand, 'that's our potential,'" Alamolhoda said.
The Rams outscored the Rebels 21-0 in the second half to turn a 20-7 halftime lead into a blowout.
Leading the offence was quarterback Greg Bowcott, who completed 15 of 27 passes for 263 yards and three touchdowns.
Two of Bowcott's touchdown throws found the sure hands of receiver Malcolm Williams, who ended up hauling in five tosses for 91 yards.
Rams' star returner/receiver Nick Downey also had a fine game catching the ball, with five grabs for 113 yards and a touchdown.
Langley's balanced running attack saw Daniel Xavier carry the ball 12 times for 46 yards and a touchdown.
Kyle Albertini chewed up 55 yards of real estate on seven carries.
Naylor converted all four Rams' touchdowns and added a 36-yard field goal to the visitors' totals.
On defence, rush end Sheldon Van Roon recovered a loose ball, jarred loose from linebacker Adam Konar's blindside hit on Rebels' quarterback Mark Black, and ran it 80 yards for a touchdown.
Konar had a big game with three tackles, an assisted tackle, a quarterback sack, and a forced fumble.
. . .
The Rams will now look for revenge against the Raiders, the only team to have beaten them.
The teams last met Sept. 22 at McLeod Stadium, where the Raiders won 41-29.
The defending BCFC champion Raiders lead the league offensively, with 366 points.
Kickoff at McLeod Stadium is 4 p.m.
