Photo courtesy of Adam Marchetti

CULLEN CUP
Langley Rams 39
Okanagan Sun 7

For the seventh time in nine Cullen Cup meetings the Langley Rams dominated the Okanagan Sun 39-7 on route to their BC Conference championship title.

The Rams would ride a 26 point first half to victory and their defence completely shut down the Sun attack holding them to 73 net offensive yards.

The defence forced eight turnovers highlighted by three interceptions from Nathan Murray.  Linebacker Anthony Blackwell was a machine with a team eight tackles, forced a fumble and recovered it. Isaiah Okoli had the lone sack.

Offensively the Rams were led by their passing attack.  Quarterback Duncan Little was 13 of 19 for 238 yards driving his club down the field into the red zone.  He also rushed for two touchdowns on four carries.   Receiver Jevon Cottoy caught four passes for a game high 110 yards and scored a major from 11 yards out running from the wildcat offence.

Kicker Jayden Sheilan played a major factor and was a perfect 6-6 in field goals.

The Sun simply had no answer for the Rams on Sunday and were not able to move the ball against a stifling defence.

Without starting quarterback Jacob Loucks the Sun look like a different team.  Back-up Matthew Mahler completed just nine passes for 105 yards and found Payton Price for a 26 yard touchdown strike in the fourth quarter.

Defensively the Sun found themselves on the field the majority of the afternoon.  Conor Richard collected a game high nine tackles and Ryan Maquardt tallied the lone sack.

During the regular season the Sun defence recorded a Conference high 53 takeaways, but were unable to force one on Sunday.

The Rams will now host the Hamilton Hurricanes on Saturday in the CJFL National Semi-Final game.  The winner will advance to the Canadian Bowl in Saskatoon on November 17th.  It’s the first time since 2005 that the Rams appear in the National Semi-Final.  That season they faced the Edmonton Huskies and fell 57-3.  

This will be the first time these two franchises have ever met and second time the Rams have faced a team from the Ontario Conference.  In 1992 the Rams played the Ottawa Sooners in the Canadian Bowl and lost 35-18.