The G.W. Graham Grizzlies have gone 7-1 in AAA high school football play this year.
The Mt. Douglas Rams, from Saanich, have gone 6-2.
Both are fine football teams that deserve to decide their fate on the field. But with flooding closing Highway 1 through Abbotsford, Monday’s playoff matchup almost came down to a coin flip.
“It was play today or a coin flip,” said G.W. Graham athletic director Jake Mouritzen. “To avoid the coin flip, we settled on both junior and senior games being played at McLeod Park (in Langley).”
Mouritzen said that Subway Bowl finals at Dec. 4 at B.C. Place Stadium can’t be postponed, nor can the start of the high school basketball season. For those reasons, at noon Monday, Mouritzen was on a bus with the senior team as they wound their way to the field for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff.
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“It’s a 3.5 hour bus ride,” he said. “Brutal.”
The junior team headed for Langley earlier in the day, for a playoff date with Mt. Douglas that kicked off at 12 p.m.
Due to the flooding, B.C. School Sports has changed the AAA playoff structure, shifting to a regional format.
At the senior level, the winner of the G.W. Graham vs Mt. Douglas matchup will move on to a Nov. 27 date with either Vancouver College or Centennial. The winner of that game will play in the Coastal AAA Subway Bowl final Dec. 4 at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver.
Interior/North teams Duchess Park (Prince George), Vernon, Kelowna and South Kamloops will have their own AAA/AA championship bracket.
At the junior level, G.W. Graham is in a six-team Coastal AAA playoff with Mt. Douglas, St. Thomas More, Lord Tweedsmuir, W.J. Mouat and Vancouver College that will culminate with a title game Dec. 4 at B.C. Place.
The junior Grizzlies were 5-0 during the regular season with 201 points for and 28 against.