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High school football kicks off in Nanaimo

Oct 4, 2017 | 11:58 AM

NANAIMO — The regular season gets underway for BC High School Football this week.
 
John Barsby’s varsity and junior varsity squads open up on the road against Ballenas.
 
The JV’s head up to Parksville for 3:15 p.m. on Wednesday and the AA varsity squad is at Ballenas Friday at 3:30 p.m.
 
Coach Rob Stevenson has a lot of respect for the Ballenas Whalers, and knows his teams will have to stick to their game plan to have success.
 
“You’ve got to be on your ‘A’ game when you’re playing Ballenas,” said Stevenson. “They’re a fantastic program. They can come at you a bunch of different ways so we really need to hunker down with our fundamentals and not let them get us out of our scheme.”
 
Last the season the varsity squad finished 1-5 in regular season play but Stevenson has been impressed with what he’s seen in exhibition action so far. 
 
The team didn’t given up more than 14 points in any of their preseason games.
 
The JV’s went 6-0 last season but lost out to their cross town rivals from NDSS in the Subway Bowl (BC Championship).
 
Coach Stevenson likes what he’s seen from  the defensive on the junior varsity squad so far, but he would like to see more production offensively once the regular season rolls around.
 
Unfortunately there won’t be any more Barsby vs NDSS football matchups for a while outside of the preseason.
 
NDSS has moved up to ‘AAA’ from ‘AA’. 
 
That moved is strictly based on student enrolment numbers but it does put an end to a very strong neighbourhood rivalry.
 
After 22 years coach Stevenson has been through a lot of ups and downs but his approach hasn’t changed much.
 
Heading into week one of the season he stresses the importance of practice early in week leading to success on game day.
 
In a short season that ends in the first week of November Stevenson says his players have to treat every game like it’s their Superbowl.
 
He still has tremendous passion for the sport, he still gets butterflies before games, and is thankful for the opportunity to work with young athletes on the football field.
 
“Week one to the final game is 13 weeks and every game is a treasure. It’s a story unwritten, it’s fun to watch, to see what you’re doing in practice put out on the field, and watch the kids grow right before your eyes. I’m just happy as heck to have a game this weekend,” said Stevenson.
 
The full game schedule is online at bchighschoolfootball.com and there is also a page on blogspot called johnbarsbyfootball.
 
 
 
dan@nanaimonewsnow.com
 
On twitter: @danmarshall77