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Raiders visit Rebels Saturday in Cullen Cup Championship

Oct 20, 2017 | 8:14 AM

NANAIMO — The 2017 Cullen Cup matchup on Saturday will be an all Vancouver Island affair.
 
The third place VI Raiders will visit the top seed and defending champions the Westshore Rebels at Westhills Stadium.
 
The two familiar foes had very different wins in their semifinals last weekend. In Kelowna, the Raiders shutdown the Okanagan Sun in a tight defensive battle that ended 15-8. Meanwhile Westshore routed the Langley Rams 57-14 at home.
 
During the regular season the Rebels won both head to head games, but both were close. In August Westshore took a 27-25 victory at Caledonia Park, and then in September VI lost 22-17 on the road.
 
On paper the Raiders are the underdogs but coach Doug Hocking says his team is full of confidence after reeling off four straight wins, including the playoff win at the Apple Bowl last Sunday.
 
“We felt all week long if we could play at a high level (in Kelowna), execute our assignments, and play with great technique, we would be fine up there. Everything fell into place and we came out victorious and now we’re looking forward to this Saturday night,” said Hocking.

The Raiders coach is looking for a great practice week from his team, noting in his mind it’s the work put in Tuesday through Thursday at practice, as well as Friday’s walk-through that will ensure success on game day.

Despite being a higher scoring team during the regular season, Hocking doesn’t want to be involved in a shootout style of a game.
 
“We don’t want to get into a shootout with any team,” said Hocking. “We’ve always preached from the beginning of the year that defense will win us championships. I’m a defensive minded guy and I truly believe that 100 per cent. The way our defense is playing right now we can go into any game and keep it low scoring.”
 
A bout of stormy weather attacked Vancouver Island this week and Hocking says the Raiders have been preparing to play in adverse weather conditions from day one.
 
If field conditions are less than ideal on Saturday Hocking knows his players will be up to the challenge.
 
“We want to run the ball. We want to be able to run the ball in late October and November when the fields get muddy and it’s raining. That’s when offensive lineman thrive, in cold weather with raining coming down. That’s when we want to be able to run the ball and lean on people and wear them down,” said Hocking.

Saturday’s BCFC championship game will feature several league award winners.
 
The Raiders Brycen Mayoh headlines that list after being named the Top Receiver, Offensive MVP, Top Special Teams Player and Return Specialist by the league.
 
On the other side of the ball Quinton Bowles won the Top Defensive Lineman and Defensive MVP awards.
 
Rebels head coach Charly Cardilicchia was picked Coach of the Year while Christian Krause received Top Offensive Lineman honours and Trey Campbell was the BCFC’s Top Offensive Back.
 
Coach Cardilicchia didn’t mince words about his 9-1 Rebels being shutout of the league’s MVP awards.
 
“It is what it is,” said Cardilicchia. “Let’s go prove them wrong on the field and we have a great opportunity to show them exactly who the offensive and defensive MVP is this weekend and I tell you what, they won’t be wearing a Raiders jersey.”

To win their eighth Cullen Cup the Raiders will have to control their emotions.
 
Tensions run high between the two clubs and that spills over to the fans as well.
 
Hocking says the Raider fans who traveled to Kelowna helped play a role in the victory over the Sun and he expects a loud group of Raider fans in Westshore too.
 
“The fans are going to be going back and forth, that’s the rivalry part of it. We’re going to get them all out in their black and we’re going to black out that Westhills Stadium. At the end of the night if everything goes well we’ll have a little celebration,” said Hocking.

The last VI provincial championship was in 2013, and to add another piece of hardware to the trophy case they’ll need to beat a team that not only won the league this season, but is also the Cullen Cup champion in 2016.
 
Saturday’s kickoff is at 7 p.m.
 
 
 
dan@nanaimonewsnow.com
 
On twitter: @danmarshall77