

Chris Swartz, Langley Rams

The Kamloops Broncos took the Langley Rams and their fans on a wild ride Saturday but the home team dug in their spurs and rode a 340 yard passing performance by Rylan Matters to post a 27-21 victory over the spunky Southern Interior squad.

The Broncos defense came out of the gate with fury and a sack and forced fumble by Jesse Zajaros on the Rams first possession gave the Broncos the ball in Rams territory. Quarterback Colby Henkel moved the ball to the Rams three-yard line with a 30-yard strike to Brody Bernier and Trent Price ran it in from there to give the Broncos a 7-0 lead with 9:32 remaining in the opening frame.

The teams traded possessions but neither could generate a scoring chance and the first quarter ended with the Broncos up 7-0.

Henkel opened the second quarter with the ball on his own 19-yard line and nine plays later had the Broncos facing a third and goal from the Rams four-yard line, the Broncos gambled and lost after Isaiah Stewart knocked down Henkle’s pass into the end zone.

The Rams dodged a bullet and took over in a precarious position on their own four-yard line, but instead of playing it safe offensive coordinator Shawn Olson called for them to attack. It took just one play to move from their own four-yard line to the Broncos 18 after starting quarterback Rylan Matters hooked up with Joel Klaassen on an 88-yard passing play, one play after that Matters hit Khalik Johnson with an 18-yard touchdown toss to tie the game at 7-7 with 9:24 remaining in the second quarter.

The Rams took the lead with 1:30 to go in the half after Matters engineered an 11 play 72-yard drive that was capped off with a five-yard touchdown run by Nathan Lund, Jonaus Levac’s convert attempt was blocked by Broncos Michael Baerg and the teams went into the break with the Rams up 13-7.

The Broncos tied the game on a 13-yard touchdown run by Max Joseph and Landon Munk’s convert gave them a 14-13 lead just three minutes into the second half.

The Rams jumped back into the lead with 1:20 to go in the third, Matters started it off with 40-yard pass to Johnson at the Broncos 29-yard line and Nathan Lund finished it off with a 29-yard touchdown run that gave the Rams a 20-14 lead.

The Broncos still had lots of fight in them and Colby Henkel responded by taking them on a drive that went 60 yards in eight plays and was capped off by a two-yard touchdown run by Max Joseph to make the score 21-20 Broncos with 12:03 remaining in the game.

Junior football fans at McLeod Athletic Park Stadium were treated to an amazing duel between two talented quarterbacks, less than a minute following the Broncos go ahead touchdown Rylan Matters threw a 70-yard touchdown pass to Nick Agnoletto to make the score 27-21 Rams.

The Rams defense held the fort from there but not without some tense moments, with time winding down Henkel had the Broncos in position for the potential winning touchdown at the Rams 15, a big sack by Jacob Dodd pushed them back to the 23 and Kyle Clarot knocked down Henkles third down pass to force a turnover on downs at the Rams 23 with 45 seconds remaining in the game.

The Rams thought it was game over and just had to kneel three times for the victory but some confusion between the officials resulted in a time count violation and a loss of downs, facing third and 13 with only 10 seconds remaining the Rams opted to punt the ball away and give the Broncos one more shot at victory. Henkel’s first pass fell incomplete and Kyle Clarot knocked his second pass to seemingly end the game with zeros on the clock, but a roughing the passer call gave the Broncos one more shot from the Rams 23-yard line, Denis Olivera picked off the last-ditch effort and after a full 60 minutes plus a play the Rams had finally tamed the Broncos.

Rylan Matters had another outstanding game for the Rams, the rookie pivot completed 16 of 27 pass attempts for 340 yards and two touchdowns.

Matters favorite target was Khalik Johnson, who caught 8 passes for 107 yards and a touchdown.

Nick Agnoletto returned to his big play form with three catches for 118 yards and a touchdown.

Nathan Lund continues his rise among conference rushing leaders with 13 carries for 105 yards and a pair of touchdowns and Joe Carter ground out 37 yards on 9 carries.

The Rams chalked up a total of over 500 yards offense on the day.

Kyle Clarot led the way defensively for the Rams with seven tackles and a pair of batted balls, Nathan Murray made six tackles and Isaiah Stewart had four tackles and knocked down a pass.

Kyle Sagmoen and Jacob Dodd each had a sack while Rene Sencio and Carmello Brancati teamed up for another one.

The win moved the Rams one point up on the VI Raiders and into third place in the BCFC Standings, the Raiders fell 22-17 to the Westshore Rebels, who are in town to play the Rams next Saturday September 23… kickoff is 4PM.

(All statistics un-official until released by Conference)