Sun embarrassed at home
When was the last time the Okanagan Sun gave up 50 points at home?
You have to go back a decade almost to the day when the Saskatoon Hilltops came into the Apple Bowl and pounded the Sun 58-2 in an ill-advised attempt at introducing inter-conference play to the BC and Prairie conferences.
That’s it, just once during a one-off. Not even the ill-fated Gavin Lake-led 2012 team that finished an embarrassing 3-7 allowed a half century of points.
They tried, giving up 48 in their home finale.
Lake was fired two days later.
Now, no one is suggesting head coach Travis Miller suffer the same fate, far from it, but Saturday’s 50-16 thumping at the hands of the soon-to-be crowned league champion Langley Rams exposed a lot of warts that, for the most part, have been masked by an offence able to outscore its problems.
“Embarrassing,” was the only adjective Miller could muster up to describe the effort.
“Our quarterback play wasn’t good enough, our offensive line play wasn’t good enough, defensive line play wasn’t good enough, db’s, linebackers, running backs. Kicker was great.”
Five turnovers in the first half including four interceptions, the inability to stop the big play in the passing game and poor tackling led to a 28-6 halftime deficit.
And penalties at inopportune times – a common theme this, and previous seasons.
The Rams racked up 587 yards in total offence, 442 of that through the air as Darryl Overstreet Jr. shredded the secondary for 394 of those, 211 to Kalel Dizon who was unstoppable.
While Miller acknowledged there are some defensive issues that need to be fixed, some of those have been prevalent all season.
“At this point, I don’t know.
“Maybe it’s a sign we have to change our leadership group and probably change our starting personnel until we find a group that wants to compete on a day-by-day basis.”
The Rams led 4-0 early on a wind-aided single off the opening kickoff and a 47-yard field goal following the first of Liam Kroeger’s four first half interceptions.
The Sun cut the deficit to one on a Grady Hay 32-yard field goal, but the Rams struck right back, aided by a Overstreet 33-yard scramble on a play the Sun should have had him behind the line of scrimmage on at least two occasions.
Tyson Godspower took it in from a yard out to send the Rams on their way.
The Sun defensively looked good the rest of the quarter, but on the first play of the second quarter, Kroeger was stripped of the football and Nick Reimer rambled 27 yards to put the Rams up by 15.
An Overstreet touchdown pass and another field goal put the Rams up 28-6 at the half.
They led 36-9 when the Sun finally gave their fans something to cheer about.
Midway through the fourth quarter Isaac Matity blocked a punt, scooped it up and scampered 39 yards for the lone Sun major.
Overstreet with his third passing touchdown of the night and backup Gurjan Siddoo with a 40-yard dart closed out the scoring.
The Sun finished the game with just 246 yards of total offence and six turnovers.
The loss also snapped the club’s 25 game regular season winning streak at the Apple Bowl.
The Sun now venture up north to face the Prince George Kodiaks next weekend before closing out the regular season at home to the Westshore Rebels.