Lots of teams talk about peaking for playoffs. The V.I. Raiders actually do something about it.

Nanaimo’s junior team has been playing its best football of the season in recent weeks, reeling off blowout wins over the Chilliwack Huskers Sept. 27 and the Okanagan Sun last Saturday.

The Raiders’ timing couldn’t be better, as they open the B.C. Football Conference playoffs this Saturday (Oct. 11) against the Huskers.

“We still haven’t reached what we can do,” said Ranji Atwall, Raiders linebacker. “If we keep going we can really peak. We’re on the way to doing that.”

The Raiders are happy with the matchup of playing the Huskers. Chilliwack likes to hand the ball to running back Matt Peterson, who won the rushing title, but Atwall said Nanaimo’s run defence is a team strength.

“We stick to our gaps – we’re very disciplined in terms of that – we stay patient and we tackle really well,” he said.

The Raiders’ offence is also OK with facing the Huskers this weekend.

Nanaimo’s star tailback Andrew Harris said his offence showed two weeks ago that it could adjust to Chilliwack’s defensive front, and the run game got even better last week.

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“I think we’re obviously good enough to compete with and beat any one of the top teams if we play a full game,” said head coach Howie Zaron, already looking towards the Raiders. “We’re the underdogs and we know that. We’ve got to go there and play error free football to have a chance.”