CFC50 game PREVIEW (BC): Seaquam gets first taste of CFC50 Jugglers in AAA action

 

CFC50 Notre Dame Jugglers vs. Seaquam Seahawks

Friday, Sept. 22 @ 7:30pm, Burnaby Lake Sports Complex

 

Welcome to the meat grinder, Seaquam Seahawks!

AA Provincial Champions, the Seaquam Seahawks will be opening their regular season for the first time in the AAA Western conference against perennial power CFC50 Notre Dame Jugglers on Friday night at the Burnaby Lake Sports Complex.

Seaquam heads into this matchup with a 2-0 non-conference record with wins against Seahome (WA.) 46-28, and Centennial, 61-28. They will need this built up confidence when the face the Jugglers who, as you can recall, lost in the AAA provincial final last year to the CFC50 ranked Terry Fox Ravens.

The Jugglers also go into this one with a 2-0 non-conference record as they have beat both opponents, 34-7 and 54-0 against Abbotsford and Holly Cross respectively. While Holy Cross was a blowout early, it was a good way to settle in and get the game plan down as the Jugglers enter into a very tough league schedule.

“We watched game film on Notre Dame this week and broke down some tendencies,” explained head coach, Navin Chand when we asked how this week’s practice went and what they did to prepare for the Jugglers on Friday. “We have prepared our defense based on what Notre Dame did on offence against both Abbotsford and Holy Cross.”

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Seaquam will rely on a balanced offensive attack in the air and on the ground. The running game will be led by triple threat CFC100 Jalen Philpot, Jello Juacato and Antonio Pamintuan. Senior quarterback, Josh Haydu, will be looking to connect with his receivers CFC100 Tyson Philpot, Chris Martin and Jacob Van Luven to round out their offensive game plan. 

Notre Dame, on the other hand,  graduated many of their players, including their star quarterback and CFC100 Steve Moretto, but according to this start, it doesn’t look like it’s affected them that much. With 17 returning players, five of them were significant contributors last year.

“So far this year at Notre Dame we have been pleased with the team attitude and work ethic. We have consistently had good turnout for practice and players have bought into the team-first mentality,” said head coach of the Jugglers, Denis Kelly.

Getting the start at quarterback for Notre Dame will be Will Clarke who, according to coach, has established himself as the starter and “has shown steady development”. Against Holy Cross, he threw 3 touchdown passes and is capable of big plays on both sides of the ball. Look for him to connect with receivers, Dylan Rachel and Jerrell Cummings, two of those five contributing players as well as running back, Brice Pumares to carry the rock in the running game. Tight end/defensive end CFC100 Pauljeet Dhami will also be a player to contribute early.

“We knew that our leaders were Cameron Mah at Guard/Linebacker, Brice Pumares at fullback/linebacker, Dylan Rachel at WR/LB, Pauljeet Dhami at TE/DE and Jerrell Cummings at WR/DB,” said Coach Kelly. “Our line play has also been good featuring seniors Richard Nguyen, Paolo Amenta and DE Matteo LaPorta.”

For Coach Chand, winning the battle at the line of scrimmage is going to be key on both sides of the ball. “Gavin Murray and Dedaar Jhooty are two key linemen that will be relying on to win this battle,” he mentioned.

Establishing a solid running game is something that the Seahawks have been working hard to do these past weeks and have been successful with.

“The game vs. Centennial last was a good opportunity to try different plays and give kids a chance to play,” Chand said. “Both Jello Juacato and Antonio Pamintuan have ran well between the tackles. Josh Haydu has also been very good at the quarterback position throwing touchdowns to both Jalen and Tyson Philpot to date.”

The matchups between the Philpot twins against Notre Dame’s cornerbacks, Will Clarke and Jerrell Cummings, will be very exciting to watch as all four players are extremely athletic. Coach Kelly recognizes this and states that they have been focusing on these players and have worked on their pass coverage in order to shut down the Seahawks “strong-armed quarterback” and the twins.

Defensively, look for linebackers Cameron Mah to lead this defense as he already has amassed 14 tackles, 1 sack, 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, and 1 safety in 2 games  played. Teammate Dylan Rachel isn’t far behind him with 12 tackles in 2 games played. Brice Pumares, and Kareem Oborne will round out the linebacking crew to contend with Seaquam’s inside and outside run game.

“If we can get a pass rush on the QB, our secondary will have a good chance at success,” said Coach Kelly. “The keys for us are a good, balanced offensive attack, creating turnovers, and limiting mistakes/penalties.”

This will be quite the game and one which many of the other AAA Western conference teams will be watching with increased interest to see what sort of competition Seaquam really is. Kickoff is at 7:30pm on Friday.

 

 

 

 

 

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