The Mission Roadrunners couldn’t handle the Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers on Friday, but the loss for the club wasn’t just on the scoreboard.
Mission fell 54-20 to the number four ranked team in the province, but also lost star player James Limoges in the process.
Limoges, a fullback and linebacker for the Roadrunners, was tackled awkwardly in the second quarter and had to leave the field in an ambulance.
He broke the lower part of his fibula, dislocated his ankle and tore several ligaments. Limoges is going in for surgery this weekend, and is expected to make a full recovery. It’s unknown whether he will be able to suit up again for the Roadrunners this season.
Mission fell behind 20-7 in the first quarter, and couldn’t stop the high-powered offence of the Panthers. Cole Sotet scored the first touchdown for the Roadrunners.
The Surrey school had 100-plus yards rushing games from Derek Best and Joel Klassen, and Panthers quarterback Walter Dingwal went 10-of-14 for 157 yards and two touchdowns. Tweedsmuir players Treven Baarts, Dawson Marchant and Mac Allinson all caught touchdown passes.
Roadrunners quarterback Hamen Gill called his own number, and rushed in a touchdown just before the end of the first half to make the score 34-14.
Tweedsmuir added another 20 points in the third quarter, and Mission’s Levi Murchison had the only score in the final frame with a rushing touchdown.
The Roadrunners record dropped to one win and two losses in AAA regular season league play after Friday, and they sit tied for fourth place in the Eastern conference. Mission has allowed the second most total points in AAA, with 114 points against in three games.
Mission hits the road the next two weeks, taking on Centennial on Oct. 14 and Terry Fox on Oct. 21. Both games occur at Percy Perry Stadium in Coquitlam.
The Roadrunners return home to take on Abbotsford’s W.J. Mouat Hawks on Oct. 29.