The Mission Roadrunners opened the regular season with an exclamation point on home field on Friday afternoon.
Mission kept the visiting Abbotsford Panthers off the scoreboard for the first half, and scored 29 unanswered points before the Panthers got on the board late.
The 29-8 win was highlighted by a 70-plus yard touchdown grab by wide receiver Tyson Bongo off of a perfect pass by Roadrunners quarterback Jackson Trask.
Running back Keegan Royal added a pair of majors, with Trask also calling his own number for a touchdown.
Mission head coach Danny Jakobs explained his team is using a double wing offence, which extremely tight splits along the line of scrimmage and two tight-ends, two wing backs, the quarterback and one full back in the backfield.
The double wing is an easier way to get blockers to the point of attack on offence, and also limit the risk of blitzes and slants the defence may be using. It also makes play action passing plays more effective.
“It suits our team,” Jakobs said. “We have a new quarterback and new linemen so it makes the blocking schemes easier for everyone but it’s also punishing, grinding and hard to defend on short weeks. It can be a hard offence for teams to prepare for.”
Jakobs said the offence suits his team’s grinding style of play.
“We were really physical today but we’re happy grinding every play,” he said. “It’s kind of become our motto this season.”
He said there are some skilled players wearing Roadrunners colours this year.
“Tyson Bongo is really talented and runs great patterns as a receiver,” he said. “Keegan Royal is a good and very tough player, and Cody McMahon, our full back, the sky is the limit for him. Some of these guys have been with us since Grade 8 so it’s nice to see them do well.”
Mission lost both of its exhibition games earlier this month, but Jakobs said they were both valuable experiences, especially the trip to Meridian, Wash.
“It was awesome, even though they were better than us we picked up our game as it went on and played pretty well,” he said, noting the game is more about players getting the chance to compete under the “Friday Night Lights”.
The Roadrunners lost that game 49-0 on Sept. 14 and also lost 7-6 to Langley on Sept. 7. The team is looking to build off of a 2017 season that saw them go 2-5 and qualify for the postseason.
Mission next travels to Kelowna to battle the Mt. Boucherie Bears on Sept. 28. The next home game for the team is’t until Oct. 20 when they host Kelowna.
For more on the team, visit bchighschoolfootball.com.