The Nanaimo Redmen ran smack into a fired-up White Rock Titans team in Vancouver Mainland Football League semifinal action Saturday in Langley and came out of it the worse for wear.
Nanaimo lost 37-8 and coach Sean Roden said his team was overmatched against the top-ranked Titans.
"That’s the bottom line,” he said in a press release. “They had tons of offensive talent and a much larger bench.”
The Redmen looked good early in the game, but failed to capitalize on their good play.
“We had a couple of bad breaks and did not handle the adversity as well as we could have,” said Roden.
Down 23-0 at the half, Nanaimo came out battling in the third quarter, scored on its first possession and recovered an onside kick.
Despite moving the ball downfield, the drive stalled and the visitors came away with just a single point on a missed field goal.
“At that point the team to score next had to be us,” said Roden. “Our D forced a couple of stops, but we could not take advantage. White Rock scored again and we had no answer.”
Nanaimo finished fourth in league play with a 7-3 record and got about as far as Roden had hoped.
“We had little depth and lacked experience in some key positions,” he said. “We had a character team and played great defense, and overall our season was a great success.”
While disappointed with the final result, Roden said prospects look good for next year.
“We had an amazing core group of talented and committed young men,” he said.