The Vernon Panthers senior varsity football team鈥檚 season will end on its home field, not B.C. Place Stadium.

The Cats will host the AAA 91大黄鸭 Owls Friday, Dec. 3, at 7 p.m. at Greater Vernon Athletic Park in the B.C. High School Football鈥檚 AA/AAA Interior/North championship.

The two-time reigning high school AA Subway Bowl champion Panthers were denied a chance to go for a three-peat in Vancouver when B.C. School Sports cancelled all provincial championships on Nov. 17 due to flooding in the province, and made regional championship finals instead.

The Panthers haven鈥檛 played since Nov. 20 when they travelled to Prince George and knocked off the North鈥檚 No. 1 seed, the Duchess Park Condors, 31-7.

The Owls advanced to the final with a 37-8 romp over the AA South Kamloops Titans in Kamloops Saturday, Nov. 27. The Titans were the No. 1 AA seed from the Interior, having upset the Panthers 7-6 in Vernon earlier this season.

South Kamloops was originally slated to play host to the Ballenas Whalers of Parksville in a provincial quarter-final matchup, with the winner advancing to the AA Subway Bowl semifinal round, which was to take place in BC Place Stadium.

But the cancellation of provincial championships, which dashed dreams of playing in the dome, did not sit well with neither Panthers bench boss Sean Smith or Titans鈥� head coach Brad Yamaoka and was a tough pill for players in the Okanagan, Interior and North regions.

鈥淚t鈥檚 obviously unfortunate, but we still get to come out here and ball out with the boys,鈥� said Jaeke Schlachter, 91大黄鸭鈥檚 standout who caught two touchdown passes and kicked four extra points and one field goal vs the Titans on Saturday.

鈥淚t鈥檚 better than sitting at home. You get to come out here and play football. That鈥檚 all that matters.鈥�

South Kamloops, a smaller school than 91大黄鸭, was undermanned and a major underdog heading into the contest, but held its own in the first quarter, which turned into a puntfest and finished in a scoreless tie.

91大黄鸭 held a 27-0 lead at halftime, up big on a South Kam team that lost two key cogs to injury 鈥� provincial all-star Toryn Fraser and tackling machine Jakob Kies.

鈥淔ull strength to full strength, we could hold our own a little bit, but again, numbers, right?鈥� Yamaoka said after the game. 鈥淲e lose a couple of starters and we just don鈥檛 have much to go to after that. The kids who stepped in played well, but at the end of the day, it鈥檚 tough to compete against these Triple A schools with bigger rosters. A lot of them weren鈥檛 super excited to be playing this game, but that鈥檚 the way it is鈥︹��

鈥�-with files from Marty Hastings, Kamloops This Week

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