Chilliwack bantam Giants closed out September with a shutout win over a tough opponent, blanking the Meadow Ridge Knights 13-0.
Motivated by a loss to North Surrey one week prior, the Knights were an angry foe.
A Giants team accustomed to starting fast came out sluggish on their opening series, slowed down by the rainy weather and a series of self-inflicted wounds.
Poorly-timed penalties took away several first downs and gave Meadow Ridge a short field to play on for their first series.
The Giants defence, which has yet to yield a point this season, was on the ropes as the Knights fed the ball to all-star running back James Grimason.
But Chilliwack got lucky when a bad snap produced a fumble that got them out of trouble.
As the rain started coming down harder the Giants offence got rolling on their second series, with Jackson Saunders and Tayton Gienger chewing up yards on the ground.
Saunders was a two-way force, contributing crushing hits on defence alongside Mufeed Romaya and Jaycob Brown.
Defensive linemen Mason Murphy, Corey Lamb, Dhillon Myers and Kain Friess bulled through the Knights line to disrupt the Meadow Ridge ground game.
When the Knights took to the air, cornerback Gavin Thomas came through with a huge bat-down to save a touchdown.
The offence counted two touchdowns in the second half, with Saunders scoring both.
Kaleb Spanner produced the play of the game in the first half, with a big helping hand from Jaxon Wilkins.
Taking a handoff from quarterback Grayson Frick, Spanner charged around right tackle with a head of steam.
The Knights had him walled off so Spanner bounced to the outside. With the Meadow Ridge defenders closing in for the tackle, Wilkins stepped into a pursing linebacker and thwarted him with a punishing block that enabled Spanner to pick up several more yards.
Spanner’s Giants hit the road this weekend, visiting the North Langley Bears Saturday afternoon, 3 p.m. at McLeod Athletic Park.
— An all local junior bantam clash saw the Blue Giants squeak out a 20-16 win over the Red Giants last weekend at Townsend Park.
Returning from injury, Kai Manning dominated on the defensive line, producing three quarterback sacks and a fumble recovery.
A Chilliwack offensive line led by Manning, Kade Kelly, Ty Weatherby and Sebastian Gonzalez paved the way for a 50 yard touchdown run by Brayden Struiksma. Quarterback Aidan Saunders had lots of time to throw the ball and completed passes to seven different receivers.
Ben Amey, Nicholas Murphy and Chloe Dades all had great days at wideout, with Braeden Macdonald hauling in a spectacular TD catch in traffic.
Defensively, cornerbacks Christian Scott and Tyson Orregaard shut down the Red Giant passing game and counted 10 solo tackles between them. Riley Dmytruk and Jace Nessel were fantastic from the halfback position and defensive linemen Evan Butler, Logan Boychuck and Zach Wolter were disruptive. Captain James T. LeBlanc led the linebackers, with great games turned in by Lucas Feaver and Vincent Braunauer.
— On a rainy day in Maple Ridge, the peewee Blue Giants lost 36-0 to the Meadow Ridge Knights.
On offence, the Giants started off with a huge gain on a pass from quarterback Aiden Hewitt to slotback Carter Dallas.
Chilliwack’s O featured seven different ball carriers on the day, including Yapo Conteh, who was sprung free for one big gain by fantastic blocks from receivers Anthony Jorgenson and Jack Zacharias and guards Danian Kanghura and Jaden Porter.
Cornerback Charlie Larson was fantastic on defence, going from sideline to sideline to make great tackles. Keegan Mitchell and Landon Therres read the play well and flowed to the ball as well. On the Defensive Line, Lucas Pollard continued to be a beast.
— The atom Blue Giants took a 20-18 loss at the hands of the Meadow Ridge White Knights.
The Giants Offense, led by the superb play of quarterback Rylan Parks, fought to the final buzzer. Running back Caleb Friesen found the end zone for a Chilliwack touchdown behind the big down-field blocking of Paityn Saunders.
The Blue Giants defense was fired up, with linebackers Ben Graff and Lawson Dades stepping up to make some big tackles. Defensive Tackle Michael Schur helped to close down the middle of the field while Wil Van de Loosdrecht recovered a fumble.
Tight end/defensive Tackle Malakai Hakansson came up with some incredible plays on both side of the ball.
— The atom White Giants and Red Giants squared off in an all-local clash, with the White side securing a 19-0 win.
The game started with a big kickoff recovery by Maguire Brown. From there, running backs Cole Kermode, Ridley Mastin and Judah Lueck led a long drive that was capped by a touchdown run from Alex Cayer.
Offensive linemen Evan Tiessen, Emma Penner and Liam Clark gave quarterback Lincoln Boyd time to throw two TD passes, an 85 yarder to Cayer and another to Mastin.
The defense was stingy as ever, with big tackles made by Reid Olson, Thales Chappell and Ashton Osell. Marc Baird and Corbin Holdridge provided lockdown pass coverage.
As the clock ticked down, nose tackle Ben McKay provided an exclamation point on the win when he jarred the ball loose from a Red Giant running back and his team recovered the fumble.
The White Giants are looking forward to a Friday Night Lights game this week against the Blue Giants.