Same story different ending; Hyacks learn from mistakes amidst deja vu

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The New Westminster Hyacks found themselves in a familiar position Friday night. After the Hyacks had regained their lead in the final minutes, the Terry Fox Ravens had the ball back within their possession with a chance for a walk-off score. 

The last time New Westminster was in this position was two weeks ago against Robert Bateman. This exact scenario didn't go the Hyacks' way as they watched their opponents find the endzone in the game's final moments, in what was an emotionally draining, heartbreaking defeat for the team. On a Third down, with the Hyacks' defence likely feeling a bit of deja vu, Ravens running back Bobby Tilley took a direct snap on a trick play.

Let's rewind and talk about how we got to this moment. Both teams' offences were running on all cylinders from the moment the game kicked off. Ravens quarterback Firth Ben was outstanding for his team. Ben found the endzone on a designed keeper, threw darts to receiver Jacob Trudeau on two separate occasions for majors and converted a 3rd and 12 that extended a Ravens drive, leading to a rushing major deep in the Hyacks' redzone.  

The Hyacks' offensive attack was as balanced as it has been all season. Anyone who's watched the team this year has been treated to the Kah'ri Johnson show. Tonight was no different as Johnson had roughly 175 yards rushing, which puts him over 1000 yards already on the season. The biggest difference in this game was the efficiency of quarterback Gavin Rai and the ability of other Hyacks' playmakers to answer the bell when their name was called. 

"I'm proud of our Team and our offence. It was a strong all-around performance both on the ground and in the air. We distributed the ball well to different guys and many players contributed to our success offensively," said Hyacks' offensive coordinator Darnell Sikorski.

"With Fox game planning to take Johnson away, we had other guys like Ilya Korenevskiy, Eli Smith, Nigel DeRasp and Joey Baker all make plays for us tonight."

Rai sat in the pocket and delivered strikes to his targets, showing excellent timing and poise within the pocket all game long. His biggest completion of the night was when he rolled to his right on a designed QB boot and delivered a fade ball to Eli Smith, who burned his defender and caught Rai's perfect pass in stride for six.

Hyacks' head coach Andrew McKechnie reiterated the impact those around Johnson made on Friday night.

The importance of depth as you get deeper in the season is absolutely massive if you want to be contending come November," said McKechnie 

"As a staff, we've been waiting for some of our key grade 11s to take that next step forward, like we know they're fully capable of and Ilya Korenevskiy and Alex Morosoff stepped right up without missing a beat when their names were called."

Korenevskiy went far beyond taking a step forward as the junior running back/ linebacker had his breakout game at the senior level. Korenevskiy got his first chance to be a feature back alongside Johnson and didn't disappoint. He racked up yards on off-tackle runs, finding the endzone in the process. But for how good Korenevskiy was pounding the rock, his biggest play of the night was yet to come.

With under a minute to go down by five, Ravens running back Bobby Tilley took that direct snap mentioned earlier, rolled to his right and looked to throw down the left sideline to Firth on a trick play. From his linebacker position, Korenevskiy flipped his hips and undercut Firth on his wheel route. He elevated and snagged Tilley's pass at his highest point for an interception, ensuring a 32-27 Hyack Victory. 

"I feel like everyone pulled together at every spot. We called on our players to elevate their play this week after two straight losses and when we needed it most, they did," said McKechnie.

It's very easy for individuals to dwell on the past, fold when things get hard and never learn from their mistakes. The Hyacks chose to do the opposite on Friday and because of that, came away with a gritty win.









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