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Westshore Rebels rough up winless Huskers

The Valley Huskers went to Victoria expecting their first win and came home smarting from their fourth loss.

After three losses to BC Football Conference powerhouses, a weekend trip to Victoria was supposed to provide respite for the Valley Huskers.

Facing a theoretically beatable Westshore Rebels squad Saturday afternoon, the Huskers looked to crack the win column for the first time in 2015.

Instead, they fell to 0-4 with a 45-14 loss at Langford’s Westhills Stadium.

The Husker offence couldn’t move the ball and the defence couldn’t halt the Westshore march.

The Rebels amassed an astounding 643 yards of total offence, slicing and dicing the Chilliwack D with an unstoppable air attack. Victoria’s starting quarterback, Ashton MacKinnon, torched the Huskers for 427 passing yards and three touchdowns, completing 29 of 38 attempts.

Two Rebel wideouts, Tayln Davies and Hunter Lake, went over the 100 yard mark in receiving.

Lake caught nine balls for 183 yards and a major.

Davies had nine for 130.

Joe Barkhouse only caught three passes, but found the endzone twice.

In true dual-threat style, MacKinnon also led the Rebels in rushing, scrambling 10 times for 86 yards.

The numbers are bad, but Huskers head coach Adam Smith said they don’t tell the full story.

“The defence was great in the first half, where it was just 7-0 with two minutes to go,” he said. “They scored late to go up 14, and the D just ran out of gas from being on the field too much.”

The Husker offence tallied just 62 yards in the first half and didn’t move the ball with any authority until late in the third quarter.

By then, the Rebels had pulled away.

Chilliwack quarterback Noah Falconer was hurried and harassed by a Victoria pass rush that sifted through his offensive line. The rookie completed 11 of 24 passes for 179 yards with a TD toss to Jesse Deering. Deering led all Husker receivers with 77 yards on three catches.

The Huskers got a 100 yard rushing day from newcomer Jackson Ryan, who had the other Chilliwack major.

The Huskers stay on the road this weekend, traveling to Kelowna to face the Okanagan Sun.

See bcjuniorfootball.ca for more.