The Kamloops Broncos will open up a new BC Junior Football Conference season on Saturday at Hillside Stadium.

It’ll be a tough one as they’ll be facing the Westshore Rebels, who are defending league champions and national runner-up in week one.

While a number of Westshore’s top players graduated after last season, they’re still expected to be amongst the league’s best.

“We always have an uphill battle, the schedule doesn’t necessarily play in our favour. That’s ok, we are used to it,” Broncos Coach Brayden Vankoughnett said. “The defending league champs have to come to us. We’re excited to play the defending champs.”

The Broncos are coming off a 2-8 season that saw them finish fifth out of seven teams.

“We’re ready to test ourselves and see where we stand. We’re ready to compete this year,” Vankoughnett added. “We think we can win on any given Saturday and we’re excited to show that.”

The Broncos put more effort into recruitment this year and had nearly 80 players in camp including about a half dozen quarterbacks competing for the starting job.

Offensively they will be led by local receiver Colton Meikle who is going into his third season with the club.

Meikle is coming off a busy spring of football that saw him take part at BC Lions training camp in Kamloops. The Westsyde Secondary grad also won a gold with Team Canada at the U-20 World Cup in Edmonton.

Saturday’s kick-off is set for 6pm at Hillside Stadium.

You can find the entire 2024 schedule for the Kamloops Broncos here.