The New Westminster Hyacks and St. Thomas More Knights faced off in the battle of 10th Avenue Friday night. The Hyacks won this battle against their rivals, whose school is a mere five-minute drive from their own 42-7.
The Knights got off to a great start, chewing up the entire first quarter on their first drive and capping it off with a seven-yard pass from Patricio Cuesta Leon to Milano Peloso.
From that point on, it was the Tyson Godspower show. The Hyacks running back ran for over 200 yards and four touchdowns in awful weather conditions, helping his team score 42 unanswered points.
With the Hyacks trailing early Benny Hageleit and Godspower made crucial plays when their team needed them most. Hyacks offensive coordinator Darnell Sikorski spoke highly of his two stars postgame.
"STM is well coached but we had answers to what they tried to accomplish defensively to stop our offense. Tyson Godspower had a huge game on the ground, and while Benny only had a handful of touches due to the weather, he blocked his butt off and had a great game defensively. He's one of the top players in the province," said Sikorski after the game.
Hyacks Head Coach Andrew McKechnie was also very impressed with Hageleit's play.
Benny made two very important catches in the 1st half when we finally did have the football, but his play on the defensive side was extremely impressive" said Mckechnie.
Hageliet had a forced fumble and fumble recovery where he ripped the ball out of a Knights runner's hands midplay and also made some great tackles from his safety spot.
Hyacks defensive coordinator Chad Oatway says Benny isn't the only star excelling on his defense.
"Defensively the kids executed the plan well after that first drive and did a great job being disciplined. Alex Dall played great on the Defensive Line. And I can't say enough about Julian MacFadden," said Oatway.
"He is a sideline-to-sideline linebacker and made plays everywhere. It's the first season at inside backer for that kid, and he's done so well. A university coach is going to be very happy with him because he's got so much upside."
McKechnie is excited for his team to show what it's got come playoff time.
"We are still quite banged up and not quite over our injury hump. We had a lot of guys out tonight again," said McKechnie.
"In a lot of ways, that's why this game was so impressive. If we can get healthy come playoff time and limit mistakes... this team can really do some damage."
