John Barsby Bulldogs (2-0) vs. Hugh Boyd Trojans (1-1)
Friday, Oct. 20 @2:00pm, Hugh Boyd
The Battle of Boyd vs Barsby is about to go down this afternoon at Hugh Boyd in a game that is hyped to be highly competitive. Both teams have been playing exceptional football in the AA Western conference of BC high school football.
“We’ve played well in all our games. We have certainly been competitive, and have had legitimate shots to win them all,” said head coach William Haddow of Hugh Boyd. “We figured at the start of the year that our season would go like this, that wins may be tough to come by, but we’d be competitive.”
And that’s just what they have been. Competitive. In the two games that they have played, they beat Ballenas 30-20, but only lost 14-25 to the No. 1 ranked team in AA in BC, Windsor.
“We finally broke through last week against a very tough Ballenas team as we were able to play well from start to finish,” coach Haddow said. “This was very satisfying, and encouraging going forward.”
Running back Reace Mok’s four touchdowns helped the Hugh Boyd Trojans defeat John Barsby and clinch top spot in the Western AA Conference (2016).
Photograph By MARK BOOTH
This week, they will have to contend with an even harder matchup as the Bulldogs are undefeated. They defeated Holy Cross last week 31-7 and Ballenas the week before, 21-13 in regular season play. Bulldog’s quarterback, Cameron Wright, is having a great season completing 41/59 for 529 yards passing and 5 touchdowns with 1 interception.
Receiver Ethan Laing has 161 yards on 13 receptions and 2 touchdown receptions, Kole Postema has 129 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns while Zachary Taylor has 120 yards receiving and 1 touchdown in two games played.
Coach Haddow recognizes these offensive weapons that Barsby has and said, “Barsby likes to throw this year, so we will work at taking this away from them the best we can.”
If Hugh Boyd is successful in shutting down the passing game, don’t think the Bulldogs are done for the day. The Trojans will still have to contain running back Steen Rasmussen who has 209 yards rushing and 2 rushing touchdowns.
“Our pass defense has been solid this year, so we should in decent shape here. As always with Barsby, we must be ready for their physical play; they like to play the “bully”, and if they aren’t stood up to, they feed off it.”
Isaiah Daniels (26), Hugh Boyd
The “Bully” may try their usual tricks in this game, but not before the Trojans work their own game plan. Quarterback/defensive back Byron Rubalcaba, has completed 24/40 for 262 yards passing and 4 touchdown passes this season.
Running back Austin Berry has 13 carries on 111 yards rushing and Reace Mok has 1 rushing touchdown and receiver Zachary Jackson has 140 yards receiving on 7 catches to go along with 3 touchdown receptions. Teammates Isaiah Daniels and Shakur Lopez also have 1 touchdown reception to their name.
“Our corners, Isaiah Daniels and Tyler Humphrey are going to have to be on their games – they are going to be tested,” Coach said. “We’d like to stay balanced on offense – this will be key for us, so it will be up to our offensive line to create some space for our backs against Barsby’s front 7.”
Defensively for the Trojans, Ryan Jensen has registered 17 tackles, Coleton Forrester 16, and Berry has 13 tackles this season. Dayton Williamson has 8 tackles and a sack to boast about. These guys will be instrumental in keeping this game in check and hopefully shut down what the Bulldogs have schemed up for this game.
In the end, Coach Haddow said that “playing physical” and taking away the Bulldogs passing game is going to be the keys to coming out on top of this one.
Kickoff is at 2:00pm at Hugh Boyd. Bring your rain gear!
Advocating for football prospects one story at a time.
