By Ethan Ready
High School Football

Duchess Park’s season comes to an end after clash with Vernon Panthers

Nov 20, 2021 | 2:18 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – It was a story of two halves for the Duchess Park Condors, ultimately losing to the Vernon Secondary Panthers 31-7 at Masich Place Stadium Saturday morning.

What was originally set to be a quarterfinal matchup with the winner heading to Vancouver’s BC Place for the BC Secondary School Football Association’s Provincial Playoffs, turned into a semifinal game for a BC Interior-North Championship after BC School Sports made changes to the playoff schedule due to the flooding and mudslides in Southern BC.

Vernon came away as the winner in a play-in game against the Prince George Secondary Polars, winning 35-14 after the two teams were tied at the half.

Fast forward to the next weekend between Vernon and Duchess Park, the Condors opened the scoring. After a scoreless opening quarter, and one where the crowd watched Duchess Park’s Noah Lank pound his way on the ground, Quinn Neukomm connected with Aiden Lewis for a long scoring play.

Shortly after, the Panthers then found their way into the red zone thanks to a few strong runs and penalty calls going their way. From a few yards out, Panthers’ receiver Braden Khunkun motioned behind centre and then plunged forward on a designed sneak play. Vernon’s point-after attempt failed, leaving the Condors ahead 7-6.

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Joe Murphy scored again for Vernon before the end of the first half. The Grade 11 running back followed his blocks before hitting an opened gap in the defence and sprinting in for a long-run play. The Panthers opted to go for a two-point convert and were successful, pulling ahead 14-7 and carrying the lead into halftime.

In the second half, the Condors stuck to the ground, feeding the workhorse Noah Lank with the ball. However, the Panthers’ defence made halftime adjustments and shut the Grade 11 back down for most of the second half.

Meanwhile, on offence, Vernon pulled away with a balance of passing and handing the ball off throughout their offensive unit.

Quarterback Jake Farrell found Roan Reid nestled along the sideline deep in the Condors’ end of the field. The senior for Vernon then cut towards the middle of the field, against the wave of Condors defenders, and leaned into the end one to make it a 21-7 score.

Vernon added a field goal in the fourth quarter from 20 yards out, pushing their lead even further.

The scoring was capped by Vernon’s quarterback. Jake Farrell rolled to the left on what appeared to b a designed passing play. Instead, the five-foot-nine signal-caller tucked the ball away and scrambled for the 30-yard touchdown.

With the 31-7 final, the Condors’ season has come to its end. Meanwhile, the Panthers will now wait to see who wins between South Kamloops and Kelowna in the other Interior-North Semifinal. Vernon will face the winner of that game for the Interior-North Championship.

That game will be held on either December 3rd or 4th. The location has yet to be determined.

by Ethan Ready

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