The Duchess Park Condors were ripe for the plucking.
Three plays into their game Friday against the Prince George Polars, Condors starting quarterback Jacob Cundy got tackled and rolled over, suffering a dislocated thumb.
That suddenly cast Grade 10 pivot Andrew Johnson into the spotlight, knowing it was his job the rest of the game to distribute the ball while fending off behemoth-sized senior opponents who would love nothing better than to grind him into the soggy mud field at Masich Place Stadium.
Fighting off a flu bug, the 15-year-old Johnson put his fears aside and while it took the better part of three quarters, the Condors finally got their running game in rhythm and pulled away from the Polars, winning 29-14 to remain undefeated atop the B.C. High School Football Association Northern Conference double-A varsity standings.
"I was really sick in the beginning of the game and I came here with the intentions of not playing and then Jacob draws it up the middle and dislocates his thumb and I have to go in, but we still pulled off a good win, I've got good team behind me," said Johnson.
"Being only five-foot-seven, trying to get the ball off while being cranked by big linemen is tons of fun. We've got an amazing fullback, Zack Bundock, he's fast and big and he was making big blocks for Mr. Speedy, Colburn Pearce. He was just deking out everyone and putting them in the dirt and he keeps taking it to the house every play with Zack lead-blocking."
Cundy did eventually return to the game as a linebacker, sporting a bandage wrapped on his wounded hand, but Johnson was on his own taking all the snaps as the Condors finished the regular season with a 4-0 record. Cundy is expected to be out for two weeks, which means he will miss next week's semifinal playoff against the College Heights Cougars.
The Polars (2-2) finished third in the standings and will play the Nechako Valley Vikings of Vanderhoof (3-1) in the other semifinal next Friday.
Tied 6-6 after the first half, the Condors scored on their first possession of the third quarter. Bundock powered his way to paydirt from three yards out and Pearce kicked the convert for a 13-6 led. But the Polars had an answer for that. On the ensuing kickoff, Pearce booted the ball low on a diagonal slant into the open arms of Auston Edgson and he took off up the sideline and ran untouched 60 yards into the end zone. Noah Williams then pitched the ball to Jake Sweet, who ran for the two-point convert and a 14-13 PGSS lead.
On the next series, the Polars sacked Johnson in the backfield, forcing a turnover on downs and were deep in their own territory when Jaeger Hammerstrom fumbled the ball. Condors lineman Denver Petersen recovered it, setting the stage for Pearce. The Condors' star running back ran the ball nine yards for a 19-14 lead and they never looked back. Logan Seager and Zakery Norum ganged up on Williams and tackled him behind the goal line for a safety touch and Gage Reimer capped the scoring in the fourth quarter when he hauled in a pass from Johnson and scored from 16 yards out.
"We started out pretty strong and when Cundy went down that helped a little and I think we held our own," said Williams. "We weren't expected to do much so the fact we held it that close, we're pretty happy about it. We didn't have many players and our juniors really helped."
PGSS had a couple of key injures to deal with. Justin Wittmeier, one of the top linemen in the Northern Conference, went down with a shoulder injury in the first quarter. Then in the second quarter they lost starting running back Kaiden Witso to a leg injury.
"We battled hard, we took the lead in the third quarter on kind of a funny play, a short kick retuned for a touchdown, and scored the two-point convert and then we shot ourselves in the foot," said Polars head coach Brett Morrow. "We fumbled on our own 10 yard line and on the next drive gave up a safety."
Without Cundy's passing arm, the Condors' offence had to make some major adjustments, but once they knew their own limitations they used their running attack to shred the Polar defence.
"When you lose somebody like him, the whole team kind of subsides for a bit and it took a bit to pick up," said Condors head coach Richard Bundock. "We've worked so hard that our passing game is as good as our run game. (Cundy) fires the ball out there so quick it gets into the receivers' hands and we have so many weapons it really helps. Then we can come back with Colburn and run where we like and then when we want power we've got Zack.
"It's a balance, and when you mess with the balance it takes awhile to reset and come back, and we had a rough second quarter. We kept giving them life as opposed to taking over the game and just keep going like we did Tuesday (a 76-17 exhibition game win over D.P. Todd). The third quarter we started buckling down and started creating turnovers and some good defence."
In the late game Friday, College Heights (1-3) scored a 51-0 win over the Correlieu Clan of Quesnel (0-4).
