Football season is not yet over for two of the three competitive Comox Valley Raiders Youth Football teams.
The junior bantams (12-13) and the midgets (16-18) have earned their way into the provincial championships Dec. 4-5 in the Lower Mainland. After a long season filled with intense weather, field challenges and vigilant health checks, these players gave it their all and have an amazing season to show for it.
On the heels of a successful spring flag football season, the Raiders saw a great turnout for the fall, with more than 140 youth participating. Players six to eight enjoyed flag football and those nine to 18 developed skills in tackle football.
The fall house leagues ended with smiles and laughs at atom, and a first-place peewee title for the Bears. In the tackle program, the bantam (14-15) season ended in a hard fought, muddy, wet game against Cowichan in the Island semi-finals.
At the provincial 9-man championships, the junior bantams will play the top teams in their bracket from all zones across B.C. The midgets, as the number two team in the province, face the undefeated North Surrey Bears.
“It has been over 20 years since the Comox Valley Raiders have had a representative at the provincial tournament, and to see the strength of the Raiders return through having not one but two teams playing at such a high calibre is a testimony to all the hard work the players, coaches, parents and volunteers have put into this 2021 season,” a news release states.
The championship games will be streamed live on YouTube channel VBNsports.
FMI: visit Facebook at Comox Valley Raiders Youth Football Club-Official Site or ComoxValleyRaiders.ca