Terry Fox Ravens coach Tom Kudaba admits he didn’t know what kind of varsity football team he had going into the 2020–21 season.
What he had was a squad that was undefeated in the regular season that came within a key injury to star running back Gavin Whittington of winning the Subway Bowl Coastal championship.
Whittington, who was felled with a shoulder injury in the Ravens’ first offensive drive of the final is now graduated.
But Kudaba said the relative youth of last year’s team mean’s there’s plenty of hungry players on the current roster ready to pick up where last year’s Ravens left off.
Leading the way is Grade 12 quarterback Owen Sieben, who dazzled as a Grade 11 starter.
Xyon Fleury is ready to step into Whittington’s shoes in the backfield as Devon Crenshaw and Cameron Neal look to pull down their pivot’s passes.
Offensive lineman Kaiden Exner’s assignment will be to give Sieben the time to make magic happen, while Tristan Lindsey and Kado Kimura hold the fort defensively.
Hayden Cote and Axel Stratton will step up to both the offensive and defensive lines.
“We are looking to these guys and others to fill the gaps we have from last year,” Kudaba said, adding the Ravens’ biggest challenge will be to overcome any sense returning players will find success automatically.
“There are no guarantees that we will duplicate what we did last year simply by showing up,” he said. “We need to out and prove it again on a weekly basis.”
Terry Fox’s regular season schedule (home games at Percy Perry Stadium)
- Sept. 30: Terry Fox @ Kelowna, 4 p.m.
- Oct. 7: Lord Tweedsmuir @ Terry Fox, 7 p.m.
- Oct. 14: St. Thomas More @ Terry Fox, 7 p.m.
- Oct. 21: New Westminster @ Terry Fox, 7 p.m.
- Oct. 28: Terry Fox @ Seaquam, 7 p.m.
- Nov. 4: Terry Fox @ Centennial, 7 p.m.
Also: 'Trusting the process' key to success for Coquitlam's Centennial Centaurs
