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Linebackers Week - Day 5

By Ryan Watters (@ryan2tswatters), 02/26/21, 1:15PM PST

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Most sacks in a CJFL career

Linebackers Week in the CJFL wraps up.

Arguably the most exciting play on the defensive side of the ball is a quarterback sack.  Knocking the pivot down behind the line a scrimmage for a big loss will fire up the rest of the team and the crowd just as a touchdown does on the offensive side.

More often than not defensive linemen are the ones recording a sack; however linebackers get their dues as well.    A linebacker can read the play, see a gap then use their pure athleticism to pass rush into the backfield to bring down the quarterback.  

The history of the term “sack” has an interesting path.   It first became popular by Hall of Famer Deacon Jones in the 1960s who felt that a sack devastated the offence in the same way that a city was devastated when it was sacked.  However according to former NFL head coach Marv Levy it was Hall of Fame head coach George Allen in the early 1970s who coined the term saying “Before we play those Dallas Cowboys, we’re going to take Craig Morton (Cowboys quarterback) salt and pour him into a sack.”

Prior to the term sack, it was called “dumping the passer.”  A player didn’t get credit for tackling the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage until 1982.  A researcher of the Pro Football Researches Association estimates that if sacks were credited in the 1960s, Deacon would have recorded 173.5 sacks in this amazing career.

Throughout CJFL history there have been some linebackers with outstanding career sack numbers and perhaps no one did it better than Dale Solie of the Saskatoon Hilltops.    From 1985-1989 Solie was a beast, hitting gaps and using his speed to hurry the quarterback.  He still holds the CJFL career record for most sacks by a linebacker in CJFL history with 36.5.  As a matter of fact there is only one player in CJFL history will more sacks and he’s a defensive lineman.  Steven Doege of the Okanagan Sun collected 43.5 from 2009-2012.  The gap between Solie and the second linebacker on the list is eye-opening.

The top 5 all-time CJFL career leaders in sacks from the LINEBACKER position are:

1 – Dale Solie – 36.5 for the Saskatoon Hilltops (PFC) from 1985-1989

2 – Randy Duech – 18.5 for the Abbotsford Airforce (BCFC) from 1988-1991

3 – Jermaine Haley – 17 for the Okanagan Sun and Surrey Rams (BCFC) from 1992-1995

4 – Adam Merino – 17 for Victoria Payless and Vancouver Island Sharks (BCFC) from 1993-1996

5 – Mason Beekhuis (pictured) – 14.5 for the Windsor AKO Fratmen (OFC) from 2010-2013