Sports

For 30 minutes Saturday it looked as if the Okanagan Sun might pull off a monumental upset in Nanaimo.

Then they played the second half.

The VI Raiders put an end to a dismal Sun season, beating up on their guests 34-8 in one BC Football Conference semi-final.

Trailing 8-3 at the break, the Raiders scored 24 unanswered points in the third quarter to assume a commanding 27-8 lead. They cruised from there.

The game came down to the Sun's inability to convert in the first half when they dominated the Raiders and VI's ability to score on their opportunities in the second half.

Alex Bradley got the Sun on the board first with a 54 yard run on the first possession of the game.

They managed only a Steven Shott punt single the rest of the way.

The Raiders started slowly thanks to a stifling Sun defence. They managed only a Mark Mueller punt single and a safety conceded by Shott in the opening 30 minutes.

The second half was a different story.

Raiders quarterback Jordan Yantz scored on a pair of one-year touchdown runs on the Raiders first two possessions coming out of the halftime locker room.

Following a Mueller field goal Yantz hit Dustin Rodriguez with a 56-yard TD and the route was on.

The Raiders closed out the scoring in the fourth quarter when Yantz tossed his second major of the half with a 14 yard striker to Whitman Tomusiak.

Sun quarterback Cam Bedore was picked off four times in the game, including a pair in the second quarter when the Sun were driving in Raiders territory.

Saturday's loss ends a disappointing season in which the club finished with a franchise worst 3-7 regular season record.

The team also fired first year head coach Gavin Lake less than 48 hours after last Saturday's regular season ending 48-6 defeat at the hands of the Langley Rams.

Club president Paul Carson assumed head coaching duties for Saturday's game in Nanaimo.

The search now begins for his successor as the Sun look for their sixth head coach in six seasons.