Like all eight teams that faced the Mount Douglas football squad this season, the St. Thomas More Knights couldn’t stop the Rams.
The Rams won the quarterfinal playoff match over the Knights 56-24 at Westhills Stadium on Friday. It puts Mount Doug into the semifinals against the Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers at UBC on Saturday with a 5 p.m. kickoff.
The Knights’ 24 points was the most scored on the Rams this season. Of course, giving up 24 points is a non-issue when you routinely crack 50 points.
Still, the Panthers will be a challenge, but are the underdog against the Rams, who are in a hunt for their third straight AAA B.C. championship, said Rams coach Mark Townsend.
In particular, the Rams will need to contain the Panthers star running back Jamel Lyles, who has 21 of the team’s 27 rushing touchdowns.
“Lyles is a special player who has shown he can dominate the game. He runs the football with great speed and power, has excellent hands catching the ball too,” Townsend said.
“We will not be able to completely contain Jamel but our focus will be to limit his big plays.”
Perhaps Lyles does dominate the game, or perhaps it becomes a game of anything you can do, I can do better, when it comes to Rams star Marcus Davis. Against the Knights, Davis rushed for 217 yards and four touchdowns, one which was 65 yards, and caught a 65-yard TD pass. Seye Farinu rushed for 145 yards and two TD’s of his own.
“The Panthers are an attacking type defence and we will continue to work on our (offence’s) blitz pick-up this week,” Townsend said.
The Panthers beat Van College 34-29 to get to the semis. The other semifinal features a heavyweight showdown between the Terry Fox Ravens and W.J. Mouat Hawks.
Junior varsity Rams
The junior varsity Rams face the Terry Fox Ravens on Thursday in the quarterfinal (third) round of the junior high school football playoffs.
After going 4-0 in the Island division regular season the Jr. Rams beat the W.J. Mouat Hawks 70-24 in the first round of the playoffs two weeks ago and shut out the Notre Dame Jugglers 28-0 last week.
Thursday's match, to be played in Richmond, is a match of two undefeated clubs. Terry Fox also ran the table going 5-0 in the Mainland's central division.
Kickoff is at 2 p.m. at Richmond's Hugh Boyd Secondary, a neutral location.