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Mistakes cost Sun

Mistakes on all three sides of the football cost the Okanagan Sun their first defeat of the season.

It came Saturday, as the Sun fell 16-13 to former head coach Shane Beatty and the Westshore Rebels in a battle of 2-0 teams.

In what was a defensive struggle, it was the Rebels defence that produced the biggest play of the game, and put the Sun in a hole they couldn't climb out of.

Tied at 3-3 midway through second, and the ball on their 19, backup quarterback Ethan Newman tried a lateral pass to running back Malcolm Miller on first down.

The ball sailed over Miller's head and bounced into the end zone. Because it was a backwards pass, the ball was live, allowing Rebels defensive back Kieran Benedito to fall on it for a touchdown.

It was the Rebels only major of the night.

Both teams had some success moving the football between the 20s, the difference, the Rebels were able to convert on their opportunities when they got deep into Sun territory, the Sun were not.

Kyle Clarke booted three field goals of 31, 21 and 10 yards, while Sun kicker Isaac Wegner connected on a 20-yard field goal, but missed two others from 21 and 29 yards out

One of those drives stalled due to another mental miscue. After Kelton Kouri busted back-to-back runs of 64 and nine yards to get the ball to the Rebels 11, a missed handoff to Kouri on and one forced the Sun to settle for three instead of a chance for seven.

"I think there were so many errors out there. We were making errors in week one, we made errors in week two. We made errors tonight, and they hurt us," said Sun head coach Jamie Boreham.

"They came back to bite us, which was a big reason why we lost. Offensively, special teams and defence, too many errors which results in too many points on the board. We didn't give ourselves a chance to win tonight."

The backbreaker came on the Rebels ensuing drive, when the Sun had a chance to get the ball back trailing by just six.

"We have second and 20, and we have a player take a roughing the passer penalty, and they get an automatic first down.

"They would have been punting, but that drive ended up in three points for them. If they don;t have those three points, it's a different story."

That field goal put the Rebels up nine with three minutes left.

In the dying second, the Sun did finally find the end zone, when Miller took an Alex Douglas shovel pass and scampered 42 yards for a touchdown with just 13 seconds left.

The two-point convert was unsuccessful. They were unable to execute the on-side kick.

Douglas, who played three quarters Saturday, finished the night 8-18 for 126 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Kouri ran the ball six times for 96 yards, most of those on the one 64-yard run.

Rebels running back Zachary Lubin was the Rebels workhorse. He carried the ball 24 times for 123 yards. Quarterback Shawn Lal completed 19-32 passes for 213 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

The Sun hit the road next weekend to face the 1-2 VI Raiders. The Raiders earned their first win of the season Saturday, beating up on the winless Kamloops Broncos 47-17.

 



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