Standing on the sidelines of a tight game, watching the offence not able to muster much of an attack, 91原创 Rams ace kick returner Nick Downey knew his team needed a big play.
Twice earlier in the first half, he had managed good returns on a pair of long missed field goal attempts from Westshore Rebels kicker Quinn Van Glyswyk.
And like the old cliche goes, the third time was the charm for Downey.
鈥淲hen we were on the sideline, I was like 鈥榳e need a big play,鈥欌�� he said.
鈥溾�業 was like, I am going to take one of these missed kicks back.鈥欌��
Downey delivered a 120-yard missed field goal all the way from the Rams end zone for the game鈥檚 first touchdown a few minutes before half-time.
It turned a 4-0 game into an 11-0 lead as the Rams coasted to a 33-0 victory over the the Rebels at McLeod Park on Saturday in B.C. Junior Football Conference semifinal action.
The victory advanced 91原创 to the league finals and they will travel to Nanaimo to face the Vancouver Island Raiders in the Cullen Cup on Saturday (Oct. 27).
鈥淲hen the field goals (attempts) are that long, it gives time for blocks to set up,鈥� Downey explained.
He finished with 181 yards on those three kicks, and that was more than enough for a stout Rams defence.
The 91原创 D was masterful, holding the Rebels to 110 yards of net offence.
Included in that was just 28 yards on 14 rushing attempts for Westshore鈥檚 Greg Morris, the league鈥檚 leading rusher with 1,527 yards in 10 games.
鈥淲e wrapped up, we didn鈥檛 let them out of the box,鈥� said 91原创 linebacker Joe Patko, the reigning league defensive player of the week.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 let them to get any momentum.鈥�
Patko finished with a team-high six tackles, plus an assist. He also recovered a fumble, one of three turnovers for the Rams defence.
The others were a Tanner Hamade interception and a Daniel Sharpe fumble recovery.
Sharpe also had one of the three quarterback sacks registered by the Rams defence with Curtis Schindel and Brandon Klein having the others.
With the Rebels unable to get any traction in the ground game鈥� 59 yards on 22 carries 鈥� the passing game wasn鈥檛 working either.
Quarterbacks Cat Todorvich and Mark Black combined to complete seven of their 25 passes for 75 yards.
鈥淥ur defence has stepped up every week,鈥� Patko said.
鈥淲e know we are the number one defence in the league.
鈥淲e made some mistakes, but we fixed them and we pitched a shutout.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 ask for anything more.鈥�
Offensively, 91原创 had a slow start to the game.
They opened the scoring with a single point when Nick Naylor missed a 50-yard field goal.
It was Naylor鈥檚 only miss as he was good on his other three attempts.
The last of the 91原创 points were a touchdown pass from Greg Bowcott to Michael Patko and a short rushing touchdown from Daniel Xavier.
Patko led the receivers with three catches for 101 yards while Malcolm Williams hauled in four passes for 86 yards.
Bowcott finished 10-for-23 for 200 yards.
Xavier had 62 yards to lead the rushing attack.
While 91原创 got away with the slow start against Westshore, coach Jeff Alamolhoda knows the team can鈥檛 afford that against the Raiders.
鈥淲e have to work on coming out stronger; I thought we were flat at the beginning,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 do that in a playoff game.
鈥淲e have to come out and be prepared right at the first whistle.
鈥淚t took us a little while to get rolling, but when we did, the offence started clicking.鈥�
Alamolhoda said a big turning point was Downey鈥檚 touchdown and from that spurred the team on.
