The Carson Graham Eagles will face one of the most-hyped players in the history of British Columbia high school football in the Subway Bowl AA championship game Saturday at BC Place.
The Eagles booked their spot in the provincial final with a 24-21 upset win over the No. 1-ranked G.W. Graham Grizzlies last Saturday at BC Place to earn a berth in the final against the Abbotsford Panthers and their star receiver Chase Claypool, who is bound for legendary U.S. college program Notre Dame next season. Carson Graham, however, has star power of their own in Grade 12 running back Flynn Heyes, who scored all three touchdowns for the Eagles in their semifinal win over the Grizzlies.
"Flynn has played really well all year, especially in the playoffs," said first-year Carson head coach Brian Brady, adding that Heyes has totalled nearly 600 rushing yards while scoring a whopping 10 touchdowns in three post-season contests. "He's a north-south type runner. He's aggressive, he plays with a lot of passion and he's just really what we want all our players to be: someone who shows up to practice and works hard every day. Someone we can count on."
Heyes put the points on the board against the Grizzlies, along with kicker Kilick Saxer who was perfect on converts while also nailing a field goal, but it was the defence that sealed the win for the Eagles.
With less than two minutes left in the game the Grizzlies, down 24-21, were in field goal range and pressing for the winning touchdown. Middle linebacker and provincial all-star Christoph Stangle turned the tide with a huge sack to force the Grizzlies into a fourth-down gamble before defensive back James Gemmell clinched the victory with an interception, jumping a post pattern down the middle of the field and wrestling the ball away from the receiver.
"If they completed that pass they'd have a pretty good shot at a field goal or they could get into the end zone to win," said Brady. "That play saved the game."
The Eagles, ranked fifth heading into the playoffs, were also led by quarterback Tyler Nylander and the offensive linemen - led by seniors Jake Breum, Aaron Skye and Sebastian Finlayson - who spent the afternoon opening big holes for Heyes to run through. "Those guys are great character guys but they're also great football players and hard workers," said Brady. "I've been telling them that the offensive line carries the attitude of the team. They've ensured that we maintain the attitude we need."
The Eagles enjoyed a double celebration of sorts on Saturday. Moments after their playoff semifinal win they learned that the UBC Thunderbirds had won the Vanier Cup with 2014 Carson Graham grad A.J. Blackwell grabbing an interception in the dying minutes to set up a game-winning field goal.
"Everyone was really excited about that - just as excited about when we won our game," said Brady. "(A.J.) has been at the school a lot and he's good friends with the kids on the team now. ... It's great to see a guy experience success in your program but it's fantastic to see them experience success after, which is really what we try to build here as a program."
Brady inherited the team from long-time head coach John Buchanan who still teaches at Carson Graham but scaled back his involvement with the football team this year.
"It's been kind of crazy and a lot more work than I expected. But it's been more fun than I expected as well," Brady said about taking the reins as head coach, adding that Buchanan has been a great resource for the coaches. "The great thing is John Buchanan always ran the program the right way. It's a student-centred approach done for the right reasons, for supplementing the kids' education on the field, really just teaching them the values of hard work, attitude and goal-setting that they need to be successful. That was all established by John. This season wouldn't have been possible without what he's set up, all that he's accomplished, the expectations for the program."
The Eagles will take on the Panthers Saturday starting at 4 p.m. at BC Place and they'll have their hands full with Claypool, a 6-5, 205 pound receiver who also lines up at running back, returns punts and even wreaks havoc on defence.
"He's one of the best football players I've seen in B.C. high school football," said Brady, adding that the Panthers are by no means a one-man team. "This will be one of the better, most well-rounded football teams that we've seen. They just happen to have one of the best players we've ever seen as well. It'll be a tough game. We'll just play within ourselves and hopefully it turns out the way we want it to."
The Eagles will look to stick to the things that have made them successful all season, said Brady. "We want to play aggressive football, we want to be playing smart football," he said. "That comes down to this week just reinforcing our assignments and what's expected of each position. We don't want to get outside of the sort of team that we are. We want to be our team and play Carson Graham football and make sure that we're doing things our way. Ideally that translates to success on the field."
