There’s a little extra on the line in this year’s Buchanan Bowl as their will be points, not just pride, up for grabs as North Van rivals Carson Graham and Handsworth meet at Carson Saturday afternoon.
After several years of playing in different leagues, the two teams are back in the same bracket this year with Handsworth joining Carson in the ultra-tough AAA Western Conference. This is no exhibition match this year – it’s a league game.
That’s all fine and good, but the word from both teams is that this is the big one no matter what league they’re playing in. No extra motivation needed.
“It comes just intrinsically. I don’t plan on saying too much before the game – they kind of get it,” said Carson Graham’s Brian Brady, who will be taking part in his fourth Buchanan Bowl as the team’s head coach this year. “As far as North Shore sporting events go and B.C. high school football goes, this is kind of it, I think. You get all the blue and all the red, it’s noisy, it’s loud, the community comes out and everyone gets excited for it. There’s nothing like it. There’s an extra shot of juice and it just gives you that energy. It’s a lot of fun.”
Players on both teams circle the game as the most important of the season, said Brady.
“Even if one team is struggling and one team isn’t, usually it levels out in terms of the game,” he said. “They really bring it for the game, there’s that extra sense of motivation. They run into these guys on Lonsdale and in Edgemont Village and just all over the place. To know that you’re going to be seeing these guys all the time, there’s an extra sense of motivation. They’ve known these guys forever. They played Little League together, they played soccer together.”
This will be the second Buchanan Bowl for Handsworth head coach Richard White, who said he was taken aback by the spectacle last year.
“Being not from the community originally, I’ve been quite surprised at the intensity and the history behind this whole event,” he said, adding that there has been extra jump from all his players leading up to the game. “This is No. 1 for them. … If there’s one game they would like to win this year, this is the one.”
A key man in the contest will be Handsworth star receiver Keelan White, a Grade 12 standout who leads the province in receiving with 402 yards through three games, catching 20 passes, including three touchdowns, while adding 146 yards and another touchdown on the ground. White has suited up for the national junior team and recently made a stir in the local football scene when he indicated that he’ll play for the UBC Thunderbirds next season.
“We always put a lot of expectation on him to help us out,” said White, the coach who has double duty as Keelan’s dad. “Right now he’s been averaging 135 yards per game while being double- and triple-teamed by teams like Mt. Doug and New Westminster.”
White added, however, that the Royals are by no means a one-man team, with players like 6-6 lineman Theo Benedet, linebacker James Mooney, speedy receiver Steele Young and quarterback Ryan Jensen leading the way.
As for Carson Graham, coach Brady said the tough task they will face is stopping Keelan White while not allowing other Handsworth players to run wild.
“Keelan is a great football player, and he works really hard,” said Brady. “It’s nice to see off-season hard work pay off. Watching film, he’s not the only one out there making plays. You’ve got to be aware of Keelan, but you need to defend everyone out there. … There are other players on that team, and if we just dial in on Keelan we’re going to get hurt in other places. We need to play a good team game, otherwise they’re going to get us looking at Keelan and set us up somewhere else. But we do expect to see him active in their game plan.”
The Royals are 1-2 in league play while the Eagles are 0-2, both teams having run up against juggernauts such as New West, Mt. Douglas and Vancouver College this season.
Carson has also had to contend with quarterback troubles as injury and illness have forced them to scramble to find replacements for long-time starter Charlie McMillan who was expected to excel in his Grade 12 season.
“We’ve had three regular season games, we’ve had a different starter for each game,” said Brady. “We run an air raid offence, which means we want to throw the ball as much as possible. But it’s difficult when the guy who is throwing the ball is different all the time.”
Grade 10 junior player Lucas Granger stepped into the role for a spell, and now star receiver Liam Scott has moved over to take the spot under centre.
“He always rises to the occasion,” Brady said of Scott, who is adapting to his new position and expected to play quarterback again on Saturday in the Buchanan Bowl.
Other key contributors include running back/linebacker Mahyar Hosseini, lineman Iain McTavish and receivers Aamir Rajwani and Kinneth Balucos who have stepped up to replace Scott.
“They’re all extremely talented multi-sport guys,” said Brady. “They’re all well-seasoned leaders, which is really nice.”
The rivalry seems to be as strong as ever, but so is the mutual admiration between the two programs.
“I really respect Carson Graham for their hard work and determination building their program. We’re looking forward to a highly competitive game with a really good team,” said White. “Carson has done a lot of work, they’ve maintained a really strong program and I think they’re a program to be looked up to on the North Shore, because they really do a great job. I would say they really have shown what it takes to have a good program.”
Kickoff is 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29 at Carson Graham Secondary.
