The Abbotsford Panthers senior varsity football team continued a perfect season on Friday, taking down the Robert Bateman Timberwolves 42-6 in a battle-of-Abbotsford cross-town rivalry game.
The Panthers scored early and often at Bateman Field, leading 28-0 after one quarter to cruise to the win.
Abbotsford running back Samwel Uko gobbled up 205 yards on the ground, scoring a pair of big touchdowns on runs of 40 and 30-plus yards.
Anthony Phan caught a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Ethan Anderson, while Owen Parker also grabbed a 50-plus yard touchdown reception. Running back Luke Szmutko scored the Panthers’ other major, rumbling in for 60 yards in the first quarter.
Bateman’s Ryan Szhtuhar caught the lone touchdown for the Wolves.
“It’s always a hard-hitting and tough game against Bateman and we caught some breaks on some big plays,” said Panthers head coach Jay Fujimura. “They did a great job containing Samwel, especially in the second half and we had to adjust our game plan. We used some screen passes to get away from the pressure, and that caused them to back off a bit and we got some big plays off that.”
Timberwolves head coach David Mills said it was a disappointing afternoon for his team.
“It’s very frustrating,” he said. “We just didn’t do our job defensively. We managed to stop them at points, but they kept breaking for big plays.”
Adding to the frustration was the fact that Mills was ejected from the game after the Timberwolves received two bench minor penalties. He was forced to watch most of the second half away from the bench.
The Panthers now have a huge game on Friday for first place in the AA’s Eastern division against the G.W. Graham Grizzlies. Both clubs are undefeated, and the winner of Friday’s game will finish at the top of the division and have an easier path in the playoffs.
“We need to get prepared to play physical football,” Fujimura said. “They have a big running back and a power running game so we’re going to have to be ready for that.”
The Panthers and Grizzlies kick off at Panther Field on Friday at 3:15 p.m.
Bateman, who is winless so far this regular season, still has an outside shot at the playoffs, but they must win on Friday over Langley by a significant margin and hope that Pitt Meadows loses. Bateman hosts Langley on Friday at 3 p.m.
In AAA conference action, the W.J. Mouat Hawks were crushed 58-0 by the St. Thomas More Collegiate Knights on Friday.
The Hawks’ record falls to one win and five losses, and they still have a chance for the playoffs but they must win on Friday against the Mt. Boucherie Bears and hope for help from other clubs.
Kick-off is set for 7 p.m. at Latham Field.
In junior varsity action, the Abbotsford Panthers took down the Bateman Timberwolves 48-6 on Oct. 25.
The junior Panthers, who sport a perfect 4-0 record, will head to the junior AA playoffs next week against the either the number two team from the Interior or number two team from the Pacific.
The Wolves, who sit at 1-3, wrap up the season this week and will not be heading to the playoffs.
The Mouat Hawks junior team fell 40-0 to the STMC Knights, and they remain winless on the season.
The junior Hawks will not be heading to the playoffs, and wrap up the season on Thursday.