The Westshore Rebels snapped their winless streak Saturday, beating the Valley Huskers 45-14 in convincing style in the teams' B.C. Football Conference game at Westhills Stadium.
The Rebels look to continue their momentum when they head to Langley to take on the 2-2 Rams this Saturday afternoon.
Last weekend's contest in Langford was a battle between winless teams, with both squads sitting at 0-3. While the Rebels, who have strung together some impressive offensive bursts this month, didn't look that different on paper than the Huskers, they showed how much better they were on the field.
Ashton Mackinnon continued to show improvement at quarterback in his third mostly full game, connecting on 29 of 38 passes for about 470 yards and finding his receivers in the end zone three times. He hit second-year receiver Joe Barkhouse for TD strikes of six and 10 yards, and connected with converted QB Hunter Lake for a 20-yarder early on.
Mackinnon, whose athletic abilities and scrambling skill reminds one of Lake, also ran in for TDs of one and six yards.
Backup quarterback Talyn Davies, who started at receiver and made seven catches, spelled off Mackinnon and connected on three of five pass attempts for 72 yards. He also ran in for one touchdown.
Westshore sacked Valley QBs six times on the day, three of which came from defensive lineman James Bradley. He also forced and recovered a fumble, while other sacks were recorded by Dusean Leblanc, Peter Allan and Jorge Yarwood.
Moving the chains … Mackinnon's 29 completions actually tied the BCFC record for one game with the mark set by Jordan Yantz of the Vancouver Island Raiders in 2010. The Rebels also set a new team record with 542 yards passing, eclipsing the old mark of 502 set in 2007.
Kamloops QB Stephen Schuweiler shattered the completions record later in the day, however, connecting on 38 passes in a 35-26 loss to the Raiders.
editor@goldstreamgazette.com