The Westshore Rebels played a strong all around game when they met the Kamloops Broncos at Westhills Stadium on Saturday.
The Rebels dominated on both sides of the ball to come out with a 38-14 win to improve to 5-1 for the 2017 campaign.
The Rebels defence came up big in the first two minutes with an interception which set the tone defensively for the rest of the game.
The home side also added a field goal in the first quarter to take a 3-0 lead.
The Rebels were busy in the second quarter scoring a touchdown with a little more than seven minutes left to take a 10-0 lead. Then about a minute later, the Rebels defence recovered a fumble but turned the ball over on a failed third down conversion.
With 3:53 to go, the Rebels once again recovered a fumble which they turned into a touchdown and a 17-0 lead.
Then with 2:13 left in the second, the Rebels ran out to a 17-0 lead thanks to a rushing TD from Trey Campbell.
The defence had multiple sacks in the first half which helped keep Kamloops off the board at halftime.
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But Kamloops added some points to the board in the third quarter with a field goal, closing the Rebels’ lead to 24-3. Kamloops kept the pressure on, recovering a fumble and adding another three points.
One of the biggest plays of the game came in the fourth quarter when the Rebels put the nail in the coffin with a touchdown run of close to 100 yards.
The Broncos added a late touchdown with 33 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 25.
After the game, head coach Charly Cardilicchia had high praise for his defence.
“The defence is very aggressive and they really play hard,” said Cardilicchia. “We got a lot of speed on our defence as well and it’s not like we are just a front seven. We’ve got a lot of defensive backs that can cover so the balance from our front seven to our defensive secondary is uncanny and the speed and talent is really unmatched from what I’ve seen from the other defences in this conference.”
Cardilicchia was also happy with the way his offence stepped up and kept the pedal on the gas all afternoon.
“We have a lot of speed on that offence, a lot of weapons, we’re still getting better and growing and I think it’s just a matter of time before we really start to click,” he said.
The Westshore Rebels square off against the Vancouver Island Raiders next Saturday, Sept. 16. Action gets underway at Westhills Stadium at 7 p.m.
jessica.fedigan@goldstream
