While the rest of B.C.'s high school football teams clashed helmets in the opening round of the provincial playoffs last weekend, Handsworth played the waiting game.
The squad earned a first-round bye following a gutsy 24-21 win over the New Westminster Hyacks in yet another contest designed to give coach Jay Prepchuk high blood pressure.
"Our guys showed a lot of heart by getting the ball early in the fourth quarter and taking the ball all the way down the field and scoring," he said.
Quarterback Mike Lemoine led the gridiron gang with 127 passing yards including one touchdown.
Standing five-foot-six, running back Alex Moon was a big presence on offence, carrying the ball 22 times.
The Royal defence was anchored by lineman Alex Benning, who mauled the Hyacks for 19 tackles and still found enough energy to notch his own touchdown.
Despite putting their footprints in New West's end zone three times and kicker Matt Anderson splitting the uprights for a 25-yard field goal, the game still hung in the balance in the fourth quarter.
With the clock winding down, Handsworth was able to fend off one last drive from a tough Hyacks crew.
Trevor Eisenbock handles the other side of the ball as defensive coordinator, and his plans were a big part of keeping the Hyacks out of the end zone, according to Prepchuk.
The game was reminiscent of some pulsepounding finales earlier in the season that saw Handsworth squeaking past Vancouver College by one point and snatching a lastsecond victory against Notre Dame.
"It's been pretty stressful," Prepchuk says, laughing about the team's tendency toward fourth quarter dramatics.
The team is hoping to pick up where they left off when they hit the turf at Windsor secondary this Friday against the No. 4 ranked W.J. Mouat Hawks.
"It's just nice to have that time for some of the kids to rest and get healthy and be strong and ready for our playoff game next Friday," Prepchuk says.
Heading into the playoffs, let alone the second round, seemed far-fetched at the beginning of the year. Handsworth was a AA program until a small boost in enrolment pushed the football team into the deep waters of AAA ball.
The team is small, both in numbers and stature, but still managed to forge a winning record, in part because of putting emphases on speed and smarts.
"There's certain things we can't change," Prepchuk said. "One of them is how big we are.. .. All the teams that we've played against are bigger than us. That's something that we just can't control so we have to use our speed and our agility and our quickness and our determination and our smarts to be able to outsmart these guys and that's what our guys have been doing."
The Royals run a sophisticated offence and are capable of making quick adjustments depending on what Lemoine spots at the line of scrimmage.
"The players around him are smart enough and dedicated enough to be able to understand the things that we're trying to do on offence," Prepchuk said. "We're able to make adjustments during the game that I think a lot of other teams might not be able to do just because our guys know and understand football."
That understanding was demonstrated in a critical fourth down against the Hyacks when Lemoine changed a passing play and the Royals snagged the first down.
"The one thing about this group that's maybe a little different . . . is they're very studious, they understand the game."
With the second round of the playoffs fast approaching, Prepchuk has the team running at full speed in practice.
"We don't go light. All year long, because of our numbers, we haven't done a lot of hitting in practice. We hit the bags but we don't hit each other," he said. "If you're not practising hard, you're not going to play hard."
Prepchuck preaches unselfishness and hard work, but also reminds the team to enjoy themselves along the way.
"It's a chance of a lifetime to play high school football," he said.
Before he paced the sidelines, Prepchuk was in the middle of the action as the school's quarterback.
"We want them to have the greatest experience that they can and know that these opportunities don't come along very often," he said.
Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. this Friday at Windsor secondary.
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The fourth-ranked Carson Graham Eagles won their AA provincial playoff opening round game 35-18 over Robert Bateman Friday. Grade 12 star A.J. Blackwell made plays all over the field, rushing for 160 yards and two touchdowns on offence while also scoring a crucial 99-yard fumble return touchdown on defence. The Eagles will take on the Vernon Panthers Friday night in Kamloops.
In other AA action the No. 6 Windsor Dukes lost 14-7 in a tough matchup against the fifth-ranked Rick Hansen Hurricanes in Abbotsford Friday.
