Knights move to 12-man semis
Published Monday November 2nd, 2009
Matadors continue on in 10-man division
Moncton High Purple Knights running back Marc McDougall sensed it was just a matter of time before the offence found its stride.
After tying Riverview High twice during the regular season, the Knights scored 21 points in the fourth quarter Saturday afternoon in Riverview and blanked the Royals 24-0 in a New Brunswick High School Football League playoff game.
"They were coming at us hard and our guys stood up to them," said McDougall, who played for the Tantramar Titans the last two seasons.
"We spread out our offence and their defence had a hard time adjusting," the Grade 12 student said. "It was a total team effort on our part.
"We had the run going, the passing game was solid and the offensive line did an amazing job. Everyone did his job. We knew we could break through and score some points against Riverview, but we needed everyone working together."
The victory pushed the Purple Knights, who finished third in the Eastern Conference, into the provincial semifinals.
Purple Knights will host the Fredericton High Black Kats, who were fourth in the Western Conference then upset the first-place Oromocto High Black Kats, in a provincial 12-man league semifinal Friday at 7 p.m. at Rocky Stone Memorial Field.
Harrison Trimble Trojans, who were fourth in the Eastern Conference and ousted the three-time defending champion Bernice MacNaughton Highlanders, who were first, will visit the Saint John High Greyhounds, who were second in the Western Conference on Friday night.
Winners will meet for the provincial title Nov. 14 in Moncton.
Lucas Constantine opened the scoring for the Purple Knight son Saturday with a 21-yard field goal late in the first quarter.
The defensive units for both teams then took over for the next two quarters.
Knights forced the Royals to turn the ball over on downs three times after they failed to move the ball on third and short situations. Knights also blocked a pair of punts, Matt Sears recovered a fumble while Colin Irving and Jordan Bedard had interceptions.
"Our defence was great again," McDougall said. "Our offence got the ball in good field position most of the time. We weren't able to score much until the fourth quarter, but we just kept working and sticking with the game plan."
Royals defence was stingy for much of the game, too, and Matt Jay recorded an interception.
However, Purple Knights quarterback Dylan Rogers took charge of the game during the final 12 minutes of play. He consistently showed nimble agility while rolling out of the pocket.
Rogers, a Grade 12 student, found receivers down field for a handful of big gains, handed the ball off to McDougall, who plowed his way into the secondary for several 10-15-yard pickups or tucked the ball away and scrambled for valuable yardage himself.
Travis Joyce, on a six-yard pass from Rogers, Irving, on a 35-yard interception return, and Luke Dickison, on a five-yard run, had touchdowns for the Knights in the fourth quarter. Constantine kicked converts on all three majors.
"We supported each other and we won as a team, not as individuals," McDougall said.
Meanwhile, Mathieu-Martin Matadors opened the playoffs in the provincial 10-man league with a 14-13 win over the Kennebecasis Valley Crusaders Saturday night at Rocky Stone Memorial Field.
Matadors will visit the undefeated Sussex High Sonics in one provincial semifinal while the Harbour View Vikings will meet the St. Stephen Spartans in the other. Vikings advanced by defeating the Rothesay Red Hawks 31-20.
Semifinal winners will clash for the provincial title Nov. 14 in Moncton.
Matadors rallied from a 13-0 deficit in the first quarter to rally and beat the Crusaders.
"They threw everything at us early, but we were able to get a few things corrected and our defence came up big by shutting them down the rest of the way," said Matadors coach Shane Mosher.
Crusaders drove the ball late in the game, but the Matadors stopped their progress on the two-yard line with just 1:10 left on the clock.
Marc Boucher, on a pass from Xavier Couture, and Gilbert Deguire, who wrestled himself out of several tackles and ran for 40 yards, had touchdowns for the Matadors. Justin Cormier punted a pair of long singles, including one from 50 yards.
"The wind was a big factor," Mosher said. "We like the balance our offence between passing and running, but the wind made it hard to pass. We were able to get a good ground game going. The offence did a great job of moving the ball on the ground."
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