Raiders fend off Sun for chance to defend B.C. title

Michael Rhode, The Daily News

The great teams find ways to win.

The Vancouver Island Raiders took a while to find what they were looking for on Saturday but ultimately got their B.C. Football Conference semifinal victory over the Okanagan Sun, 25-16, at Caledonia Park.

The Raiders -- 11-0 in league and playoff action this season -- will now take on the South Surrey Rams for the Cullen Cup provincial junior football title this Saturday (1 p.m.), also at Caledonia.

Surrey (8-3), which finished second to the Raiders in the regular season, outlasted the Victoria Rebels 52-46 in the other semifinal game on Saturday at the South Surrey Athletic Park.

"It showed the character of our team," said Raiders head coach Matt Blokker. "I think we're comfortable to play in a close game. In the second half, we just kept fighting."

It was a game that looked in the early stages the Raiders were going to romp to victory, but Okanagan, who were humiliated 43-3 by the Raiders on Oct. 11 in Kelowna, the worst home loss in team history, showed they weren't going to go down without a fight.

After falling behind 12-0 in the first quarter, the Sun came back to take a 13-12 lead at halftime, extending it to 16-12 early in the third quarter, before the Raiders responded.

A pair of second-half Andrew Harris touchdowns, one late in the third quarter on a pass from quarterback Jordan Yantz, the other on a 47-yard run to put the game out of reach late in the fourth quarter, sent the Raiders to their fourth-straight BCFC championship game.

An early Sun turnover led to a 26-yard Mark Mueller field goal to open the scoring for the for the Raiders. They later extended their advantage on a Harris rushing touchdown and a pair of Mueller singles.

But Okanagan, bidding to advance to the league final for the 25th straight year, woke up offensively.

Derek Mann hit receiver Mark Hester on a 35-yard touchdown pass late in the first quarter to put Okanagan on the board.

Then kicker Steven Shott connected on three-straight field goals -- 26, 38 and 44 yards -- to give the Sun a 16-12 lead early in the third quarter.

After initial success, the Raider offence struggled. It was up to their defence to get things done.

After Shott's third field goal, the Raiders 'D' went to work with Walker Morrison picking off a Mann pass to turn the tide for his side before fourth-quarter picks from Aaron Davies and Lavar Hayden iced the game.

"No matter if the offence is clicking or not, If we have to go out and score points ourselves, we have to take it upon ourselves to get an interception or strip the football and I didn't see that happening," said Raiders defensive co-ordinator Doug Hocking of the first half. "Although we were playing well, I just didn't see emotion in the first half. I think that changed in the second half. We came out more fired up and determined to make plays to turn the game around."

That allowed the Raiders offence to get its footing again.

A promising drive resulted in a major score for V.I.

Yantz's ability to dodge on-rushing tacklers, and find Harris wide open in the back of the end zone, put the Raiders ahead to stay at 18-16. The Sun blocked the extra point. It stayed that close through much of the fourth quarter until Harris salted the game away with a long jaunt to the end zone inside the final two minutes. Harris carried the ball 23 times for 168 yards but most of that was tough sledding against the Sun defence.

"Initially every route he had was covered," said Blokker of Yantz. "He didn't have an open man but he bided some time and saw Andrew run across the back of the end zone and with his arm strength got the ball to him."

The Sun came to town with a much better effort than two weeks ago on home turf.

They made fewer mistakes but ultimately the ones they made were costly.

"They brought their 'A' game and were very competitive, all the way around," said Blokker. "They could have gone in the tank when we went up early but they kept fighting."

Statistically, the Raiders dominated with 394 yards net offence to 227 for Okanagan. The Raiders had 20 first downs compared to eight for the Sun. Defensively, Lucas Desmet, Josh Williams, Greg Akinola and Mark DeSwart had quarterback sacks for the Raiders.

MRhode@nanaimodailynews.com

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© The Daily News (Nanaimo) 2009