It wasn’t exactly the start to the B.C. high school football regular season that the W.J. Mouat Hawks envisioned.
Mouat fell 79-0 on home field to the top-ranked Terry Fox Ravens on Friday, a game that seemed to prove the youthful Hawks still have a lot of work to do to compete with the best in the province.
The Hawks couldn’t stop Ravens running back Jaden Severy, who seemed to score at will in the first half. Mouat trailed 30-0 after the first quarter, and were down 58-0 at the half.
The club’s best chance to score was just before the end of the first half, but a 35 yard field goal attempt rang off the uprights.
Hawks head coach Travis Bell said it was a humbling loss.
“This game really showed our youth and inexperience,” he said. “We’ve got guys playing positions they’ve never played before in their lives and we’re going up against a team that is very experienced and skilled.”
Bell said the team’s defence cost them early.
“Defensively we were there in the first half but missed a lot of tackles and they scored some big runs from those mistakes,” he said. “That’s the difference between a good team and one that is figuring it out.”
It doesn’t get any easier for the Hawks, as they take on another top five team next week in the Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers.
“We need to win some battles and just keep the boys together,” Bell said, noting the schedule becomes less daunting following next week’s game.
In other local high school football action, the Robert Bateman Timberwolves earned an exhibition victory on Friday by defeating West Vancouver 7-6.
Running back Brock McCartney got the Timberwolves on the board late to secure the win.
Over at Abbotsford Secondary field, the Panthers fell 44-27 to Windsor Secondary in exhibition action on Friday.
For more on all the games, read Wednesday’s print edition of the Abbotsford News.