The Okanagan Sun defeated the Westshore Rebels 23-17 in the 2024 ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Football Conference championship game for the Cullen Cup on Saturday at the Apple Bowl in Kelowna.
The game went down to the wire after Westshore rallied from a 17-3 half-time deficit to tie the game 17-17 after three quarters before the Sun pulled it out on the fourth quarter.
Westshore, third place in the regular season at 5-5, upset the second-place Rams 25-21 (7-3) last weekend at McLeod Field in Langley in the league playoffs semifinals. The first-place Sun (10-0 in the regular season) beat the fourth-place Fraser Valley Huskers 50-19 in the other semifinal game played in the Okanagan last weekend.
The Vancouver Island Raiders, based in Nanaimo, missed the playoffs in the seven-team BCFC.
Westshore was the defending BCFC champion, beating the Sun 33-19 in last year’s Cullen Cup final played at Starlight Stadium in Langford, before losing 17-10 to the Saskatoon Hilltops in the 2023 Canadian Bowl national junior championship game at Starlight Stadium.
The Sun advances next week to play the winner of the Prairie Conference final, between the Hilltops and Regina Thunder, in the national semifinal in Saskatchewan along the path to the 2024 Canadian Bowl championship to be hosted by the Ontario Conference champion on Nov. 9.
