The Comox Valley Raiders bantam (14/15 years) football team bumped its record to 6-0 Sunday in Victoria with a 38-7 win over the Victoria Spartans.
It was the best all-round effort of the season from the Raiders offence and defence. The former controlled the ball for more than 60 per cent of the game, and the latter matched with a near-perfect performance, including an interception return for a touchdown.
“We have a really good group of second-year senior players, and then our first-years who came up are very talented as well,” head coach Damon Mair said. “We’re able to roll out a full defence and a full offence when most teams are playing two-way players.”
He notes a key group of five players from Campbell River are critical to the team’s success.
Sunday’s victory locks up top spot on the Island with two games remaining before playoffs. The focus turns to finishing the season strong Sunday in Nanaimo against the Redmen — who the Raiders beat 38-24 in their first meeting — followed by the regular season finale at home in a rematch with the Spartans the following week.
Securing first place means the Island championship will go through Courtenay, with a spot in the provincial finals in Kamloops Nov. 18-19 at stake.
Mair anticipates the team will step up its efforts at practice in the coming weeks as it prepares to show the Island, and hopefully the province, that the best bantam team in B.C. resides in the Comox Valley.