If you're expecting the Prince George Polars to throw their way to the big prize in Sunday's P.G. Bowl double-A varsity Northern Conference high school football championship, think again.
They don't pass very often.
The College Heights Cougars were reminded of that a couple weeks ago when they met the Polars in the final game of the regular season. Cougars head coach Brad Paakkonen recalls just two pass attempts made against his team in that game and neither one was completed.
That didn't seem to hurt the Polars much, they rolled to a 33-8 victory.
The two PGSS quarterbacks, Isaac McDermid and Ben Reed are both new to pivot position this season and both are quite capable of delivering crisp accurate throws but the Polars rarely go to the pass. Those tendencies might lull the Cougar defensive secondary into a false sense of security, however. It would be dangerous to think PGSS won't try to pull off a surprise or two utilizing the speed of offensive weapons Braden Reed, Matt Reed, Gavin Murray, Steven Herzig and Noah Williams to run off a few passing patterns.
"We have a better passing game this year than in previous years but that isn't the main focus, we're a running team that can pass if we need to," said Polars head coach Don Williams.
"I'm a little concerned with the weather this weekend, that's going to make it tough, but that's northern football."
Braden Reed, a Grade 11 standout who started playing learning the game nine years ago playing community football, is the Northern Conference offensive MVP. He's averaged nearly 10 yards per carry through five games for 400 yards rushing and six touchdowns. At six-feet, 175 pounds he's not the biggest player in the PGSS backfield but he's great at finding the seams created by his offensive line and its all-stars, Sasha Gajic and Max Vohar and knows how to fling his body forward as he gets tackled to squeeze out extra yards.
"He's a natural runner, there's lots of kids as fast as him, but he's instinctive and sees the opening and really explodes through it and he runs physical so when he's getting tackled it wears on the other guys," said Don Williams.
The Cougars are coming off nailbiter 8-7 semifinal win Sunday over the Nechako Valley Vikings of Vanderhoof. The Polars had no trouble dispatching the Kelly Road Roadrunners in their semifinal Thursday, winning 53-6.
The one-sided loss to PGSS was one of the few stumbles the Cougars had while leading the league in offence with 147 points in just four regular season games.
"I did underestimate them," Paakkonen admitted. "But at the same time my guys weren't overly sharp on offence mostly. They are very heavy on the run with Braden Reed and Noah Williams. But we've made some adjustments on the offensive line and hopefully we can get our pass game going."
Cougars all-star quarterback Oak Adams had difficulty finding his receivers in the semifinal but should be afforded a bit more time in the pocket Sunday with right tackle Jacob Morrison and right guard Josh Hascarl back from injuries. Conner Adams provides explosive speed and can shift gears effortlessly to sidestep a tackle and will no doubt test the Polars' downfield coverage along with Dawson Day, Gage Prince and six-foot-four tight end Mitch Lukoni. The College Heights running attack will depend on Conner Adams, Bryce Angielski, Gabe Gillcrest and Kohan O'Connor, with all-star lineman Landon Parsons, Hayden Neil and Christian Connell expected to open up the holes. Neil takes over at centre to handle the snaps to replace Jackson Williams, who suffered a broken arm in Sunday's game.
The Cougars will have to be wary of Noah Williams, who also plays at safety. He had eight interceptions in five games - tied for the lead in the provincial double-A ranks. He and Corbin Brown of Nechako Valley shared the conference defensive MVP award announced Friday. Lukoni, a former quarterback, has switched to defensive end and has excelled at that position and he will be going head-to-head with Williams on Sunday.
PGSS will be bringing its horses - defensive linemen Austin Edgson and Ben Reed - for the sack attack and the Polars have two exceptional linebackers in Gage Bernard and Gaige Ridland.
Edgson, Herzig and Noah Williams, all seniors, are the only Polars left from the 2015 P.G. Bowl champions but most of the team has played in either the junior or senior finals.
The Polars last won the senior P.G. Bowl in 2015 when they knocked off the Duchess Park Condors 50-13.
College Heights hasn't won the title since 2012, when they beat Nechako Valley 8-0.
"Most of them have had provincial playoff experience as well, which I know College Heights hasn't," said coach Williams.
"We had a really good game (in their regular season win over the Cougars) that day and everything was clicking so as long as we can do the same and don't make mistakes, we're confident with how we're going to do."
Both finalists in Sunday's game will advance to provincial playoffs next weekend in Vernon.
This will be the second year the Matt Pearce Memorial Trophy will be awarded to the winning P.G. Bowl team, named in tribute to the late Duchess Park Condors head coach, who died suddenly of a heart condition in January 2016.
The junior varsity P.G. Bowl championship will be played today at John McInnis field and the undefeated D. P. Todd Trojans (5-0) will take on Kelly Road
(4-1) starting at 2 p.m. In their only other meeting this season back on Sept. 16 the Trojans beat the Roadrunners 28-0.
Nechako Valley faces College Heights to determine third place starting at 11:30 a.m.
The north wind which made for some chilly practice sessions late this week is forecast to be blowing again today at 20 kilometres per hour, with a high temperature of -6 C expected under mainly cloudy skies, after an overnight low of -13 C.
It warms up a bit on Sunday, the wind will drop and it's supposed to get sunny for the double-A varsity playoffs.
The forecast high is -3 C, after an overnight low of -9 C.
