Trojans march past Royals and on to quarter-finals

Hugh Boyd’s Austin Do shows great concentration to haul in a long pass against the Handworth Royals, leading to a touchdown, as the Trojans won their first-round high school football playoff game 40-12 Thursday at Hugh Boyd Park.

Don Fennell photo

Share this story

Tweet

• Trojans reach end of the line
• Trojans on the march
• Trojans hosting Sharks tonight
• Trojans hosting Royals in playoff tilt Thursday
• Junior Trojans win opener
• Junior Trojans poised for playoff berth

Coaches always figure their team can play better and Bruce Haddow is no exception.

But even he struggled for words befitting of the Hugh Boyd Trojans junior varsity’s impressive 40-12 first-round B.C. high school football playoff victory over the visiting Handsworth Royals last Thursday.

“With one penalty and no turnovers—and I thought the penalty was almost borderline—that’s about as clean a football game as you’re going to see,” said the Trojans’ usually well-spoken head coach. “When you play like that you give yourself a chance to win any game.”

Pull back the layers a bit further, though, and one begins to appreciate this Trojans team is special—regardless of how far they advance this post-season. A quiet-spoken group of players, they keenly listen in practice and then heed their coaches’ advice on the field.

“This is a team—and the last game is a perfect example—where everyone contributes,” said Haddow. “No one tried to do more than their job. Football is tough enough without having to worry about doing the job of the guy beside you. You need to trust each other.”

That was most apparent on the offensive line, which Haddow said was “particularly exceptional.”

“Adam Schuck, Alec Forrest, Fred Xu, Max Grenzberg, Vaughan Hull and Darby Kwan all did outstanding jobs,” he said. “The linemen are often under-appreciated because there’s a tendency to follow the ball and you only notice them when there’s a sack. But it’s such an important position and with so much blitzing and people coming from every direction you need to be pretty smart to play there.”

Anthony Giorno paced the Trojans (which led 24-6 at halftime) with two touchdowns, while Jacob Tubajon, Gabe Saklofsky and Johnson Amisi had the others.

But as impressive as the Trojans’ victory last week was, they’ve had little time to celebrate. The football schedule doesn’t provide much down time and the Trojans were back at practice by Monday preparing for their quarter-final game this Thursday against the Vernon Panthers. Kickoff is 3 p.m. at Hugh Boyd Park.

“It’ll be another good test for the kids and we’ve got to play well again,” said Haddow.

•Hugh Boyd will have a Grade 8 football team this season, only the squad—currently at 25 players—will play in the spring. Eight teams, mostly from the North Shore, will compete in the league.