Okanagan Sun put up 70 in shellacking of visiting Kamloops Broncos

Story Courtesy Wayne Moore Castanet

The disparity of talent between the unbeaten Okanagan Sun and winless Kamloops Broncos was evident from the opening kickoff to Saturday’s BC Football Conference tilt at the Apple Bowl.

It took the Sun a few series to get their act together, but when they did, they steamrolled over the Broncos 70-3.

Over a span from late in the first quarter until the start of the fourth, the Sun found the end zone on eight of nine possessions, including seven in a row.

The first two Sun drives resulted in turnovers inside the Broncos five, but on both occasions, the defence held, prompting the visitors to concede a pair of safeties.

Sun head coach Travis Miller said the lack of execution deep inside the red zone is something the team will have to work on but, at the same time, the team was moving the ball down the field at will.

“I think it’s one of those things where we could see the positives, but it’s outweighed by the issues we had in the red zone.

“It’s something we need to figure out. We know what we’re good at, we know what we’re not good at and now we just have to get better at the things we’re not great at and put it all together as a total package.

The Sun finally “put it all together” after a bizarre play in which Liam Kroeger was intercepted in the end zone, however the Bronco defender was stripped of the ball at the one by Tariq Brown, who then fell on the loose ball.

Gerren Hardisty converted on the next play and the Sun were off and running.

Jordayne Falconer scored the first of his three touchdowns on an electrifying 58-yard punt return before the end of the quarter and the rout was on.

After the Sun’s lone punt of the game and a Glen Kodua interception, Kroeger needed just four plays before Falconer scored from a yard out on a jet sweep.

The speedy Sun receiver scored his third touchdown of the half on a 34-yard strike from Kroeger 12 minutes into the second quarter.

“We tried to get him the ball,” said Miller of Falconer.

“He’s been so close so many times, we just wanted to get him the ball, get him the touchdown and push that home.

Hardisty, who leads the BCFC in rushing by a mile added another 133 yards to his league leading total including s season-high three touchdown, one of what was a 21 yard pass from Kroeger at the end of the first half to put the Sun up 39-0.

“Jordayne and Gerren play off each other. One is great down the middle, I mean Gerren is great all over the field but so is Jordayne.

“It doesn’t matter where we get him into position, he tends to just take that ball and go with it."

The first team scored on the first possession of the second half before many of the starters took a seat and watched their backups continue the momentum.

Marcus Christos, who has done a great job running the short yardage team, showed what he can do running the offence, throwing touchdown passes on his first three drives.

He connected with Ty Walker (45 yards), Parker Scott (12 yards) and Ethan Bilo (34 yards) to make it 67-0 just 23 seconds into the fourth.

“I think it’s one of those things where our young guys came in and competed. I haven’t seen our young guys play that well, both defensively and offensively. It was awesome to see.”

Liam Attwood booted a 28 yard field goal to close out the scoring for the Sun.

The Broncos spoiled a bid for a third shutout in six games, getting a 23 yard field goal from Benjamin Whitworth with just 15 seconds left on the clock.

Kroeger threw for 240 yards, a touchdown and an interception while Christos threw for 106 yards and three scores as the Sun threw for 388 yards on the evening.

They racked up 549 yards in total offence compared with just 167 for the Broncos.

Starting quarterback Carter Moberg was harassed all night by the Sun front seven, completing just four of 20 passes and tossing three interceptions.

Kamloops had negative one yard in offence in the first quarter.

The Sun will make the long trip north to face the Prince George Kodiaks next Saturday before returning to the Apple Bowl for a showdown with the Westshore Rebels Sept. 13.

That game in all likelihood will determine first place and home field advantage through the BCFC playoffs.

The Broncos travel to the island to face Westshore next weekend.