The Duchess Park Condors will try to ground the Seaquam Seahawks in a high school football quarterfinal playoff game on Friday in Kamloops.
The Condors and Seahawks compete in the double-A varsity division of the B.C. Secondary Schools Football Association. Duchess Park advanced to the quarterfinal round thanks to a 28-20 win against the Nechako Valley Vikings in the P.G. Bowl city championship on Nov. 4. The Delta-based Seahawks, meanwhile, downed the Robert Bateman Huskies 26-8 in a wild-card game this past Friday in Burnaby.
Duchess Park head coach Richard Bundock likes his team's chances against Seaquam.
"We're on a turf field (in Kamloops) and we can use our speed to go after them right off the bat," he said. "We know they'll have talent. Defence wins championships so if we can stop them more than they stop us.... We have to have a few things go right for us and we'll have to minimize our mistakes."
The Condors will also have to find a way to create offence without their all-star quarterback, Jacob Cundy. Bundock said Cundy won't make the trip to Kamloops due to "family reasons."
In his absence, Grade 10 pivot Andrew Johnson - who started Duchess Park's past two games because of a thumb injury to Cundy - will get the start again.
Perhaps the biggest weapon for the Condors is Grade 11 running back Colburn Pearce. In the P.G. Bowl, he scored all of Duchess Park's points.
As part of his big game, he had three rushing touchdowns and turned an interception into a major score.
As for the Vanderhoof-based Vikings, their season came to an end on Saturday in Kamloops when they fell 27-20 to the Argyle Pipers of North Vancouver.
