The Barsby Bulldogs varsity team has a playoff game against Holy Cross on Nov. 17. The junior varsity squad takes on mid island rival Ballenas Secondary on Nov. 15. (Kelly Theresa Yarocki)

By Dan Marshall

Playoff Football

John Barsby varsity and junior varsity football teams set for crucial playoff games

Nov 15, 2023 | 9:28 AM

NANAIMO — The John Barsby Bulldogs high school football program is in playoff mode.

The varsity team went 6-1 to sit atop the AA west division while Holy Cross was also 6-1 and finished second in the east.

Barsby coach Rob Stevenson said Holy Cross won their wild card playoff game 13-6 over Argyle to set up this quarterfinal matchup.

“They’re a pretty talented football team. They have the best offensive and defensive line we’ve played against this year. We’re pretty keyed up to play them.”

The Bulldogs want to run a balanced offense against Holy Cross.

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“We’ve run the ball on everybody and we’ve done it well. We have a very high percentage passing game. Our pass to touchdown ratio leads the province. They’re going to load the box to try to shut down our offense.”

Stevenson has a lot of confidence in his team’s ability to defend against the run and the Bulldogs have been working hard shore up one area of their pass defence.

“So far this year our achilles heel is that we’ve given up a couple of deep balls. That needs to be fixed and we’ve worked hard at it the last two weeks.”

The varsity game against Holy Cross will be played Friday, Nov. 17 at 4 p.m.

The junior varsity side finished 2-3 in the regular season and had a strong outing in a 14-3 wild card playoff victory over Windsor secondary.

Barsby will play 5-0 Ballenas in an all mid-Island quarterfinal on Wednesday, Nov. 15 at 3:45 p.m.

For the first time since 2002 the JV Bulldogs have their own unique coaching staff, led by Sam Davies.

Stevenson is impressed with the strides the mostly Grade 9 players made throughout the season.

“The coaching staff has done a terrific job developing a very young team. They’ve maintained a high degree of commitment, a high degree of effort and we’ve seen a massive improvement since the beginning of the season.”

Both playoff contests will be at Q’unq’inuqwstuxw Stadium.

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