Centennial football coach Dino Geremia is hoping a 41-12 win over Terry Fox in last Friday’s, Nov. 1, Coquitlam Cup will give the team the kind of consistency it’s been seeking all season heading into the playoffs.
The Centaurs will face the Kelowna Owls in its first-round playoff game this Friday, Nov. 8, at Centennial’s turf field.
The result left both teams with records of three wins and three losses. The Ravens meet the Rutland Thunder (Kelowna) in its first-round playoff game, also on Friday.
Geremia said while the Centaurs showed sparks of good play during the regular season, especially during wins over Belmont and Seaquam, the team has struggled at other times. But it all seemed to come together against the crosstown Ravens.
“We played with some consistency is all phases of the game, offence, defence and special teams,” Geremia said.
That will have to continue against the Kelowna Owls, which also won three regular season games, lost twice plus another in overtime.
“They are a strong team with talent in the skill positions and toughness across the line of scrimmage,” Geremia said of Centennial’s upcoming opponent. “They have battled all season in the tough Eastern Conference.”
To get the Centaurs to the next round, Geremia said he’ll be leaning on the team’s senior leadership group that includes Harry Lobay, Doran Geremia and Noah Roselli.
Lobay’s work on both sides of the ball, including 46 tackles as a linebacker as well as 55 rushing and 40 receiving yards while on offence, earned him a place as a Central Conference all-star.
Junior quarterback Jacob Cusker’s 55 pass completions in 96 attempts was the fifth-best in the league and junior running back Jasper Baron is coming off a three-touchdown performance against the Ravens, as is another junior, Isaiah Luscene.
“That is the type of effort we need from our players this week,” Geremia said.
Terry Fox looking to rebound
Ravens head coach Tom Kudaba is chalking up his team’s poor performance in last week’s regular season finale to bad luck and bad weather.
Fox turned the ball over to Centennial eight times in the driving rain. “I don’t know of too many top teams at any level that can overcome so many," Kudaba said.
He’s hoping the lessons have been learned and the Ravens that defeated New Westminster, Seaquam and St. Thomas More on consecutive weeks prior to last Friday’s dud will be the team that gets off the bus in Kelowna for its game against Rutland. Otherwise, it could be long, quiet ride home.
“Rutland has some excellent running backs and some big lineman,” said Kudaba. “They will be tough.”
Ravens senior quarterback Zach Golab has been a star, completing more than 75 per cent of his 73 pass attempts for 692 yards.
Almost half of those completions have been into the hands of receivers Russell Arinaza and Bobby Tilley while running backs Lachlan Bruce and Michael Tsoutsis anchored the Ravens’ ground game.
Bruce has also been a beast on defence, with 54 tackles from his linebacker position.
Centennial’s game against Kelowna Friday begins at 4:30 p.m. at the school’s turf field.
Fox and Rutland play at 4 p.m. in Kelowna.
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