With the hometown lights on their side, the Mt. Boucherie Bears will look for their third win of the B.C. high school football season on Friday night at the Apple Bowl.
The Bears (2-2) will host the W.J. Mouat Hawks from Abbotsford in a 4 p.m. kick off.
Following the Bears' game, in another Eastern Conference matchup, the KSS Owls will take on St. Thomas More College in a 6:30 p.m. kick off.
The Rutland Voodoos (1-1) will be on the road this week, as they head to West Vancouver Thursday to battle the Highlanders in Pacific Division action.
In action over the weekend:
• Mt. Boucherie 41 Lord Tweedsmuir 14
The Bears overcame both the elements and the No. 4-ranked Panthers to post a workmanlike victory in Surrey.
With fierce wind and rain pounding the teams, the Bears used the ground game to their advantage, with quarterback Taylor Knoll scoring four touchdowns along the ground.
Running back Caleb Fransen, who was also battling the flu, scored the other two rushing majors for Boucherie.
"He would grind out yards for us when needed and would often carry multiple (Tweedsmuir) defenders with him as he churned out yardage," Bears' head coach Mike Godwin said of Fransen. "He is a big, punishing runner who skill set perfectly matched the elements."
Godwin said offensive co-ordinator Rick Nelson "did a fantastic job preparing the team to deal with the conditions and the offense kept the pressure on the LT defenders all game. The long grinding drives wore down our opponents and capitalized on their mistakes. "
The Bears, who led 29-0 at the half, managed to contain one of the province's most dangerous running backs, Derek Best, for much of the first 30 minutes.
Handsworth 34 RSS Voodoos 14
Matt Klak led Rutland's ground game with 173 yards and scored both Voodoos touchdowns in Friday night's loss to the Royals at the Apple Bowl.
Brayden Anderson paced the defence with nine tackles, while Kyle Solloway had six tackles and a pick.
"We did a good job stopping their pass but we were unable to stop the run," said Voodoos' coach Peter McCall. "We struggled to finish our drives on offense. Handsworth pulled away in the second half. The boys battled hard til the final whistle but couldn't keep pace."
Terry Fox 60 KSS Owls 0
The host Owls didn't offer much resistance against the powerhouse and unbeaten Terry Fox Ravens Friday in Kelowna.
The No. 2-ranked Ravens are now 4-0 while the rebuilding Owls are 0-4.
"It's tough to lose like we did, and it seemed like when we would start gaining momentum on offense, mental mistakes stopped us," said Owls coach Chris Cartwright. "We made some great plays on defence. I am so proud of our guys with how we finished. We have a lot of young guys who learned a lot. Our process to success is getting better."