Aman Bansal is not just a basketball player.
As he so readily proved Saturday afternoon at Masich Place Stadium, he's quite versatile on the football field.
A tailback on offence, a cornerback on defence, and a game-breaker when the Prince George junior bantam Axemen needed him most - Bansal did what was required to book his team's ticket in the B.C. Community Football Association provincial final, scoring four touchdowns in a surprise 36-30 victory over the Quesnel Bombers.
Why was it so shocking? The Axemen went into Saturday's Prince George Minor Football Association final having been outscored a combined 95-0 in two regular season games against the Bombers.
Bansal broke that goose egg in a hurry Saturday. His first touchdown got the Axemen within striking range in the first quarter and his second, a 71-yard scamper, gave them a 12-8 lead.
It didn't take long for the Bombers to respond. Brett Neighbour was a handful all game for the Axemen and he broke a few tackles and took off on a 58-yard sideline run to put Quesnel ahead 14-12 by the end of the half.
A wild second half punctuated by fumbles, three lead changes and some spectacular broken plays which turned into long gains made for an exciting finish.
A 20-yard carry by running back Wyatt Lemky took the Axemen deep in Bomber territory to start the third quarter. After Bansal rushed for another first down, Axemen quarterback Curtis Bronswyk recovered his own fumble in the backfield and ran the ball 22 yards to the shadows of the goalpost. Bansal punched it in on the following play.
Quesnel kept the ensuing drive alive with a third-down run from Brad Lojstrop and Neighbour scored from 45 yards out. The Bombers were good on the two-point convert and led 22-19. On their next possession, the Bombers added to the total when Lojstrop ran across the goal line from 36 yards out. The two-pointer was successful and Quesnel was up 30-19.
Football heroes come in all shapes and sizes and five-foot, 85-pound Tyler Clarke, the smallest of the Axemen, responded to the call with a scintillating kickoff return to start the fourth quarter. The ball took a favourable Bomber bounce deep down field and slipped through Clarke's hands as he tried to grab it. But he recovered it in time, five yards from his own zone, and ran it all the way to the Bomber 32-yard line, brought down by a diving touchdown-saving tackle from Thomas Neighbour. That play set the tone for the Axemen comeback.
"He wrapped up me and I kind of twisted and he let go and I just ran," said Clarke, 13, a first-year football player. "Before this game we hadn't scored a single point on them and our chances were pretty slim but we turned it around."
Did they ever. The Axemen kept the ball moving and a 15-yard high tackle penalty against the Bombers left the ball three yards from paydirt. Bronswyk then scored on a QB keeper.
Pressured by Max Vohar, Bradley Gill and some effective gang-tackling by the Axemen, the Bombers' next drive stalled and they were forced to punt. Bansal dropped back to accept the kick and fumbled the ball but turned his long legs into pistons and ran it back 67 yards for the major to tie the game.
The Axemen kickoff was fielded by Bomber Tom Mancor and he muscled his way up to midfield but got hit and the ball popped loose and Caleb Jensen recovered it. Wyatt Lemky kept the ensuing Axemen drive alive with a 10-yard rush and Brody Begg finished the job with a 40-yard TD run with a minute left for the winning points.
"We just kept working hard in practice and throughout the whole season," said the 13-year-old Bansal, also in his first season of football. "My teammates were blocking well for me. Hopefully we can win at provincials too and do exactly what we did here."
Bombers head coach Jason Lightening said his team made too many turnovers at critical times and relied too much on individual efforts to stop the Axemen.
"We didn't take them lightly, unfortunately we didn't play our game," he said. "We got away from our team tackling, which had been our strength all season. Prince George played a great game and had answers for our offence. That fourth quarter we put the ball on the ground far too often."
With 27 players on the Axemen roster, many of whom are new to football, head coach Mike Rositano had a challenge on his hands giving each of his players enough playing time to keep everybody happy. But the Axemen found the right formula.
"We had a ton of kids who had never played before and the biggest thing was learning the offence," said Axemen assistant coach Jack Page. "They have a ton of talent, they just had to learn the game. Being able to get each kid in the game and have them feel proud of their role on the team is hard in football. Now that they've learned the game, whoever we're going up against (at the provincial final) better watch out. I'm so proud of these kids"
The Axemen will represent the PGMFA in the junior bantam provincial nine-man final against the Interior champions, Nov. 14 in Kamloops.
