Matt Sode threw for three touchdowns, two to Ryan Watson and one to Chris Parks to lead the St. Stephen Seahawks to a 36-0 whitewashing of the St. Malachy's Saints on opening weekend action in the New Brunswick High School Football League's 10-man division.

Joel Wilcox and Daniel Marshall scored rushing majors for St. Stephen and its defence was led by Mike McSorely, who had nine tackles.

In other games, it was Simonds 22 J.M.A. Armstrong 15.

On Friday, the Hampton Huskies started their high school football season in fine fashion, shutting out the Leo Hayes Lions 24-0 in Fredericton. Kevin Morrell, Todd Floyd and Steve Veniot each scored touchdowns, while Mike Dykens collected three single-point conversions and a 20-yard field goal.

Also on Friday in 10-man action, the Harbour View Vikings defeated the Rothesay Redhawks 36-14 at Shamrock Field in Saint John. Jeremy Monahan led the Vikings' offence with a pair of touchdowns. Jordan Blizzard, Mike Curwin and John Phillips added solo majors. Adam Estey and Allan Bettle both scored touchdowns for Rothesay.

Elsewhere, it was MacNaughton 48 Moncton 0, Riverview 16 Harrison Trimble 0, Fredericton 36 Oromocto 13 and Saint John 38 Kennebecasis Valley 18.

The opening game of the season for two local high school teams ended up with a result that landed somewhere between the expected and the acceptable, depending on your point of view.

The Fredericton High School Black Kats were a far better team as they beat the Oromocto High School Art World Blues 36-13 at FHS Field on Saturday.

The win was expected on the part of FHS and was a solid start to the defence of the provincial championship won last season. The loss was expected by the Blues, the team that FHS beat in last year's provincial final game. The way they lost was acceptable at least for the time being.

"We knew coming out here today would be tough," said Oromocto's rookie quarterback Jordan Heather. "We were told what to expect but it's not the same until the game is on the field. (FHS) is a very good team and showed it, but we think we did all right."

Heather could also have added "given the circumstances," but he didn't. The Blues lost 24 of their 28 players from last year's team and went up against a Fredericton team who hadn't been raked quite as badly by graduation.

One play into Saturday's game the number of veterans on OHS was reduced to three for at least a while as Will Haley was carried off with a knee injury.

As for the Black Kats, they were everything that was promised in preseason talk, good to very good but clearly a team that can be better and likely will be.

"This was just our first game and it was a good effort," said third year Kat Ian MacDonald who scored a pair of touchdowns from the halfback position in the game.

"But there are so many things we could have done a lot better. That's the stuff we will be working on in practice. We're happy with this as a first game but not as far as it being how well we should be able to play." Fredericton High took a while to get their motor started, although that might not have been the case if a 40 yard run by quarterback Andrew Hickey the first time he touched the ball hadn't been called back for holding.

With Hickey's run wiped out, things were pretty much even right though until the quarter mark. It was still scoreless at that point.

"That's pretty much an example of us trying to pull things together," MacDonald said. "We moved the ball okay but had a couple of fumbles on the exchange and stuff that slowed us down."

But as the quarter wound down the tide was beginning to turn for FHS. Beginning with the last three plays of the first and carrying over into the early minutes of the second, FHS drove ffrom their own 32 and moved the length of the field on eight plays. MacDonald capped it off with a four yard run up the gut. Zac Cann hit the convert to make it 7-0 with 2:11 gone in the quarter.

Two series' later the Blues' Pete Mitchell boomed a punt so well that he out kicked his coverage allowing David Kingston to ramble 95 yards for a second touchdown with 5:06 remaining. This time Hickey hit the convert.

With 1:43 to go until the half the Kats made it 21-0, this time MacDonald rumbled 12 yards for the major with Cann again nailing the extra point.

"I was just following the line," MacDonald said of his pair of touchdowns. "They were making the chances for me with the blocking, I thought they had a great day."

Down by 21 points Oromocto finally mounted some offence as rookie running back Jordon Gardiner broke a 65 yard scoring run with 1:23 to the half on the second play of the series. The extra point was lost to a fumbled snap.

On the ensuing kickoff, Ryan Soles of FHS scampered for a 60 yard return, and gave his team his team the field position to score once more on a four play drive capped off with a 10 yard toss from Hickey to Brad Jones with 27 seconds left on the clock. Again Cann made the extra point to send the teams to the half with the Black Kats up 28-6.

The Black Kats weren't able to continue the fireworks in the second half, but instead settled in to keep the game under control with what could be called a constant grinding down of the Blues.

FHS added four points in the third quarter by recording two safeties, both voluntarily conceded by Oromocto when they found themselves backed up to their own goal line on third down situations.

Cann also contributed with his foot splitting the uprights for a 30 yard field goal and missing a 28 yard kick for a single point.

OHS did the only scoring in the fourth quarter as Heather found Chris Hillier with a short scoring pass with just 38 seconds remaining, Mitchell hit the convert

SACKVILLE - Dave Burns knows that in order to go far in the New Brunswick High School Football League teams need to be well-balanced on both sides of the ball.

Tantramar Titans were exactly that on Saturday, blanking the L'Odyssée Olympiens 29-0 in their 12-man division season opener here.

"I thought we were pretty consistent throughout the whole game both offensively and defensively and that's what we wanted to see in our first game," said Burns, Tantramar's long-time head coach.

"Offensively, we wanted to run and pass, which we were able to do successfully, and also play good defence. We beefed up our defence going into the season and that's something we have really focused on and I thought we gave L'Odyssée a pretty tough time with that."

Titans received a pair of touchdowns from new running back Tyler Nadolny, both on two-yard runs.

Jake Mundle also scored on a 35-yard run and Callum Hardie returned a punt 40 yards for another major. Hardie also kicked three converts and Chris Wilson forced a safety for Tantramar, which led 16-0 at halftime.

Burns said he was impressed with his new backfield tandem of Nadolny and Mundle, who have replaced all-star running back Randy LeBlanc.

The coach also noted the strong play of defensive linemen Preston Spence and Wilson, linebacker Scott MacDougall and defensive back Jacob Briggs.

Olympiens are still chasing their first win after going 0-6 in their first season last fall.

"It was a good game. The score doesn't really reflect how we played," L'Odyssée head coach Mike Gaudet said.

"For the first time out with the new L'Odyssée team, we fought hard and it was a real eye opener in the sense that we got to see what our strengths are and what things we'll have to work on to improve."

In other games Saturday, the defending provincial champion Fredericton High Black Kats beat the Oromocto High Blues 36-13 in Fredericton and the Saint John High Greyhounds defeated the Kennebecasis Valley Crusaders 38-18 in Rothesay.

L'Odyssée (0-1) takes on the Moncton High Purple Knights (0-1) Thursday at 7 p.m. at Rocky Stone Memorial Field.

Riverview High Royals (1-0) host the MacNaughton Highlanders (1-0) at 4 p.m. in Riverview and Tantramar (1-0) visits the Harrison Trimble Trojans (0-1) at 7 p.m. at Rocky Stone in a pair of games Friday.

In 10-man division play Saturday, the J.M.A. Armstrong Cougars, coming off a two-year absence, lost 22-15 to the Simonds Seabees in their season opener in Saint John.

Matt Porter, Jared Hamm and Josh Davis scored touchdowns for the Seabees. Justin Scott and Jesse Elson, on a pass from Jack Irvine, had the Cougars touchdowns. Tyler Amos also had a safety for J.M.A. Armstrong, which trailed 12-7 at the half.

Canine beat feline in high school varsity football play Friday afternoon.

The Leo Hayes St. Mary's Lions fell 24-0 to the Hampton Huskies in their New Brunswick High School Football League home opener at Leo Hayes Field.

Scoring in their second offensive drive of the game, Hampton went up 7-0 on the Lions with a Kevin Morrell touchdown from three yards out.

The second quarter began with a Leo Hayes touchback, bumping the score up to 8-0. The Huskies then strengthened their lead with a 46-yard Todd Floyd touchdown, heading into half time up 15-0.

But the Lions players weren't making any excuses.

"It's the first week, but it's the first week for them too," said Lions outside linebacker, John Benson.

Benson was a defensive force for Leo Hayes. Stopping the Huskies running game, he said, was the main strength he saw in his team.

But to win, Benson said the Lions on both sides of the ball - offensive and defensive - have to step things up.

"We need to be more determined. We can't just let them stop us after one tackle, we have to hit them hard every play," he said.

While the Lions offense struggled in the first half, posting only two first downs, a scary moment came early in the third quarter when quarterback, Mackenzie Washburn, landed hard on his wrist, forcing him to sit out the rest of the game.

For Washburn, it's all a matter of timing.

"Once we get the timing going and everyone knows where we're going we'll be good," he said. "Some guys in different positions are young, so it's going to take some getting used to. And I'm young too."

Two Hampton drives after the injury, the Huskies took an 18-0 lead with a close-range field goal.

The fourth quarter then brought fumble troubles for the Lions, as they turned the ball over on two consecutive punts. The second led to a pass from Huskies quarterback, Eoin Macintyre to Chris Plume for the game's final touchdown.

Leo Hayes head coach Lee Hoyt won't dwell on the defeat.

"I just wanted to see where we were, and we've got a ways to go yet. You can use this game as a kind of a measuring stick," Hoyt said.

"We play seven games this year, so you can use this basically as an exhibition game. I know it puts you behind the eight-ball a little bit, but we have a lot of new players put in a lot of different places. Now I think we can fix some things and start over again."

There were, however, some obvious problem areas that the team will be working on.

"I know there were at least five fumbles so that's a key factor," Hoyt said.

"After today's performance, you like to put it behind you. You've got to keep the kids' spirits high and motivate them to come back and achieve and prove they're better than that."

Matt Lamont, a lineman who played both ways for the Huskies, was impressed by the team's defence and play in the offensive backfield.

"We came out pounding and we wanted to win," Lamont said. "We didn't want them to score any points, so we kept them up and tried to score as many as we could."

Meanwhile, Hampton quarterback, Eoin Macintyre, said their success was due to all of the team's cylinders firing. "We put forth a really good effort for our first game," he said. "Everyone did their jobs really well."

While the Huskies go home to face the Fredericton High School Black Kats next week, the Lions travel to Saint John to play under the lights next Friday night.

The reigning provincial champion Black Kats host the Oromocto Art World Blues this afternoon at 1 p.m. at FHS Field in a rematch of last year's provincial championship game.

The Kats won that meeting 26-9. In the Eastern Conference, the JMA MacNaughton Highlanders blanked the Moncton High Purple Knights 48-0.

Canine beat feline in New Brunswick High School Football League action Friday.

The Leo Hayes Lions' home opener against the Huskies from Hampton High saw the Lions fall to their visitors by a score of 24-0.

Scoring in their second offensive drive of the game, Hampton went up 7-0 on the Lions with a Kevin Morrell touchdown from three yards out.

The second quarter began with a Leo Hayes touchback, bumping the score up to 8-0. The Huskies then emphasized their lead with a 46-yard Todd Floyd touchdown, heading into halftime up 15-0.

While the Lions offense struggled in the first half, posting only two first downs, a scary moment came early in the third quarter when quarterback, Mackenzie Washburn, landed hard on his wrist forcing him to sit out the rest of the game.

Two Hampton drives after the injury, the Huskies took an 18-0 lead with a close-range field goal.

The fourth quarter then brought fumble troubles for the Lions, as they turned the ball over on two consecutive punts. The second lead to a pass from Huskies quarterback, Eoin MacIntyre to Chris Plume for the game's final touchdown.

Matt Lamont is an offensive and defensive tackle for the Huskies. He said his team's overall defense and offensive backfield impressed him.

"We came out pounding and we wanted to win," Lamont said. "We didn't want them to score any points, so we kept them up and tried to score as many as we could."

Meanwhile, Hampton quarterback, Eoin MacIntyre, said their success was due to all of the team's cylinders firing.

"We put forth a really good effort for our first game," he said. "Everyone did their jobs really well."

Meanwhile, in 10-man division action, the Harbour View Vikings overcame a slow start to down Rothesay 36-14 in the season opener for both teams at Shamrock Park.

Australian transfer student Jeremy Monaghan scored a pair of touchdowns for the winners, who equaled last year's win total with the triumph.

Jordan Blizzard, Mike Curwin and John Phillips also scored majors for the Vikings.

Adam Estey and Allan Bettle scored for Rothesay, who jumped into a 7-0 lead early in the game before falling behind 20-7 at the half.

In the other 12-man game, the MacNaughton Highlanders used an explosive offence and a stingy defence to bomb the Moncton High Purple Knights 48-0.

The Highlanders scored four touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 28-0 lead into the half.

Eric Daigle threw touchdown passes to Joe Paterquin and Nick Kaminsky and also scored himself on a quarterback keep.

MacNaughton's ground game was just as successful. Tailbacks Nathan Cormier, Justin Vaughan, Jordan McQuinn and K.J. MacNeil all saw action and were impressive. Three of them - Vaughan, McQuinn and MacNeil - ran for touchdowns.

Ben Lass recovered a Purple Knights fumble for MacNaughton's other touchdown.

Three games are set for today at 1 p.m. Tantramar Titans host the L'Odyssée Olympiens in Sackville, Oromocto High Blues visit the Fredericton High Black Kats and the Kennebecasis Valley Crusaders are home to the Saint John High Greyhounds.

Meanwhile, the J.M.A. Armstrong Cougars open the 10-man division today on the road against the Simonds Seabees at 1 p.m.

As far as season debuts go, this one is right up there.

MacNaughton Highlanders used an explosive offence and a stingy defence to bomb the Moncton High Purple Knights 48-0 last night at Rocky Stone Memorial Field on the opening day of the New Brunswick High School Football League 12-man division season.

"It was a great win," said Highlanders veteran quarterback Eric Daigle, who threw a pair of touchdown passes and ran for another in the victory.

"We came out of training camp a little rough, but came out today and looked pretty good."

In another game last night, the Riverview High Royals blanked the Harrison Trimble Trojans 16-0 at Rocky Stone.

Earlier yesterday, the game between MacNaughton and Moncton High was scoreless after the first quarter, but that was about it. Highlanders scored four touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 28-0 lead into the half.

Daigle threw touchdown passes to Joe Paterquin and Nick Kaminsky and also scored himself on a quarterback keep.

MacNaughton's ground game was just as successful. Tailbacks Nathan Cormier, Justin Vaughan, Jordan McQuinn and K.J. MacNeil all saw action and were impressive. Three of them - Vaughan, McQuinn and MacNeil - ran for touchdowns.

Daigle said the second quarter offensive outburst was exactly what MacNaughton needed.

"That was just us coming through hard. We started a little rough, but then we came around. We wanted to come together as a team in our first game and I think we accomplished that," the Grade 12 quarterback said.

The Highlanders defence, led by Justin Cook and Ed McNally, shut down Moncton High's offence, keeping tailback Justin Lafrance and quarterback Ryan Wareham in check. Ben Lass recovered a Purple Knights fumble for MacNaughton's other touchdown.

"We made some big mistakes in the first half which just put the game out of reach. They are a fast, athletic team and they just overpowered us today," Moncton High head coach John Allanach said.

Riverview High 16 Harrison Trimble 0

Later last night, the Royals rode a strong defensive performance to shut out the Trojans.

Quarterback Greg Diamond threw a touchdown pass to Andrew Lewis and also scored on a run for Riverview High, which led 7-0 at the half. Lewis kicked a convert and three singles.

Royals head coach Mark Lenehan praised the play of his defence, in particular linebackers Tom Budd and Andrew Wortman.

L'Odyssee visits Tantramar today at 1 p.m.