Made up primarily of West Kelowna players, the Kelowna Minor Football Association's Panthers claimed the U19 title last weekend at the B.C. Flag Football Championships in Kelowna.
The Panthers went 7-0-1 over over two days of competition, securing the championship with a 14-0 victory over the Vancouver All Star Youth.
The final saw quarterback Tyler Toic connect with Logan Jacobs for a pair of touchdown passes.
Parker Simson, who is heading off to UBC this fall to play football and basketball on scholarship, and Chris Smith (Mt. Boucherie, 2016) had huge plays on defense to keep former B.C. Lions standout Cory Philpott’s all-star team off the score-.
Spencer Schmidt (playing for the Okanagan Sun for 2016) led the scoring for the Panthers on the day and was followed by Jacobs and Smith.
All eight players including Dayton Moore, who is heading to McGill to play footbal this fall, Ty Truong (Okanagan Sun, 2016), and Nathan Huey got onto the scoresheet many times with some outstanding catches throughout the day.
Most of these boys have been playing football together, or against each other, for almost 10 years and know each other extremely well. The entire team, aside from Simson (KSS) have played together at Mount Boucherie for years and minor ball on the Westside.
The West Kelowna team scored 226 points and allowed just 26 in eight games over the weekend.
The win earns the team entry into the 2017 U-20 Canadian flag football championships next Ma