The Ballenas Whalers senior varsity football team took down the Belmont Bulldogs 19-16 at their traditional pre-season exhibition game held at the Ballenas Field on Friday, Sept. 9.
It was a proud moment for the AA Whalers who were clearly outmanned and outsized by the visiting Bulldogs, who play in the AAA division in the BC High School Football Association.
New head coach Jeremy Conn was pleased to see how well the Whalers adjusted throughout the game, especially after the Bulldogs got off to a flying start.
“They didn’t give up and made the adjustments,” said Conn. “We did some things that kind of suprised us. We threw for over 200 yards and we were able to run the ball as well. It was a little scary when the Bulldogs rolled down the field on their first try and scored. But our defence figured it out too, which was great.”
The Whalers were able to advance the ball against the Bulldogs defence with Brayden Jupe deftly executing the passing and rushing game. Jupe was 10-for-16 for 238 yards through the air. He also scored two touchdowns on quartback sneak plays and tossed a touchdown pass to Brayden Harvey for 15 yards. Carter Bell made some key catches and Carter Brett was 1-for-2 on extra points.
READ MORE: Ballenas Whalers high school football teams set for start of gridiron season
One defence, Kooper Chambers, who was also instrumental in the Whalers’ running game, had six tackles and a sack, while Rohan Barlow had five takces and sack and Will Dubesky had five tackles.
Playing a school like Belmont, Conn said, allows the Whalers to gauge where they stand, and determine the strong and weak components of their game just before the BC High School Football League begins.
“We have to keep building of what we did well and the adjustments we made,” said Conn. “We still made some dumb mistakes that we’ve got to fix. It’s week one so we will do that.”
The Whalers get a bye in the first week of league play, which will allow some Whalers time to heal and also prepare for their first AA Coastal Conference game against the visiting Windsor Dukes, on Friday, Sept. 23 at the Ballenas Field at 3:15 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Junior Varsity Whalers will get their turn to face the Bulldogs in an pre-season exhibition game at Belmont Secondary on Thursday, Sept. 15 at 3 p.m. They will play another exhibition match when they host arch-rivals the John Barsby Bulldogs on Sept. 21 at Ballenas Field at 3:15 p.m.