The Royal City Hyacks ruled the peewee division during the annual Golden Helmet football tournament held at McLeod Athletic Park last weekend.
Hosted by Langley Minor Football, the tournament featured teams in four divisions, with the 10 and 11-year-old peewees taking the field Sunday evening.
Four teams faced each other in a series of 20-minute mini-games.
The North Langley Bears took second place behind the Hyacks from New Westminster, in a result decided by a tiebreaker.
The host Langley Cowboys came in third place followed by the Mission Niners in fourth.
North Langley’s first game was against Royal City and ended in a scoreless draw.
The Hyacks got the ball first, but the Bears topped that drive at Royal City’s 49 yard line.
North Langley then quickly earned two first downs on back-to-back plays – a 14-yard carry by Mathieu Gale and a 12-yard quarterback keeper by Jaxon Stebbings – but the drive stalled on the Hyacks’ 48.
On the Hyacks’ second possession, they moved the ball 50 yards in 13 plays, but as time ran out North Langley’s Ian Courtney brought down the ball carrier for a one-yard loss at the Bears’ 25 to preserve the tie.
North Langley’s second opponent of the day was the Mission Niners, and the Bears’ offence kicked it up a notch with 120 total yards.
Running back Caleb Faust led the way, running the ball four times for 60 yards and one touchdown.
Meanwhile, the Bears’ defence kept Mission from earning a single first down.
The Niners’ last possession ended with a solo sack by Nic Reimer for a 10-yard loss.
With Royal City undefeated, North Langley needed a big shut-out win against the host Langley Cowboys to take first place from the Hyacks.
The Cowboys had first possession, but it was three plays and out.
The Bears’ Chris Morrison sacked the quarterback for a five-yard loss, one of several stops he made on the day.
On the Bears’ first play from their own 35, Stebbings tossed a quick hitch pass to Jacob Evans, who raced up the right sideline, shedding tacklers along the way, and then cut across the field to reach the left corner of the end zone to cap a 95-yard scoring play.
The Cowboys’ next drive ended on their own 45 when the Bears defence pounced on a fumble.
Starting with the ball on their own 35, the Bears moved into Cowboys’ territory on the next play when Faust swept left for a gain of 28 yards.
Two plays later, faced with third down and eight at the Cowboys’ 45, Stebbings hit Gale at the 30.
After making the catch, Gale ran another 10 yards before being pushed out of bounds – a clutch 25-yard pass play.
The drive culminated in a touchdown on a two-yard quarterback keep to the right.
Although getting the shutout, North Langley fell one touchdown short of Royal City’s tournament total, so came in second place.
– by Andy Faust
Flag Bears
Flag teams were fed a steady diet of football at this year’s Golden Helmet tournament at McLeod Athletic Park over the weekend.
The six-and seven-year-old North Langley Bears played seven times, finishing in third place with a 4-2-1 record.
Fun was had by all at this year’s Golden Helmet tournament as the North Langley Bears finished in third place with a 4-2-1 record.
With a touchdown and strong defence, Finlay Johnston had a stellar opening game in a losing cause against the North Surrey Ravens.
Keeping the running attack to the inside, linebackers Ronan Langford and Colton Matheson helped keep the Ravens to two touchdowns in the 14-7 North Surrey victory.
The Bears’ second game saw Taylen Goncalves score a pair of touchdowns to lead the Bears to a 14-7 win over Royal City.
The Bears’ stingy defence held the Royal City squad to seven points with key flag pulls by Aeden Ennis, Gideon Bodill, and Ben Evans.
Game three was a defensive battle between the Bears and North Surrey Seahawks that ended in a 7–7 draw.
Tayven Magnowski carried the load defensively. He twice prevented touchdowns by running down Surrey ball carriers for flag pulls.
The Bears’ lone touchdown came on a mesmerizing 45 yard run by Johnston on the last play of the game.
In their fourth game, the Bears suffered their second loss of the tournament, at the hands of the North Surrey Firebirds.
During North Langley’s 14-7, loss Damon Bernemann emerged as a force for the Bears with a long pass to Jesse Davison, a 40 yard run, and a touchdown-saving flag pull on defence.
On the Bears’ last possession, Ben Evans took a hand off from Bernemann and scampered to the end zone on a spectacular 45 yard run.
The Bears rebounded in game five with a 14-7 win over Royal City. Davison stood out on offence with a long touchdown run and a beautiful fake that sprung Evans for the Bears’ second major of the game.
In their sixth game of the day, North Langley battled to a 14-7 win against cross town rivals Langley.
The Bears’ offence was sparked by a run by fullback Tristan Todd.
Sam Sieban then led the Bears’ offence at quarterback with a fake that drew the defence to Todd, leaving Ben Evans to power into the end zone for the touchdown.
Sieban then handed the ball off to Magnowski who flipped it to Johnston on the reverse. With an open field in front of him, Johnston used his speed to cruise in for the Bears second touchdown of the game.
In their final game of the day, the Bears finished on a high note with a tight 7-0 victory against the Langley Colts.
The only touchdown of the game came on another long run by fullback Ben Evans.
Late in the game, Damon Bernemann ran down a Colts’ ball carrier with a touchdown-saving flag pull on the five yard line.
From there Bernemann, Ronan Langford, Aeden Ennis, Gideon Bodill, and Colton Matheson held the Colts out of the end zone to preserve the shutout.