St. Stephen grabs first in 10-man division

SJHS drops Hampton in 12-man division quarter-final

Telegraph-Journal
As published on page B8 on October 30, 2006

Noel Chenier/Telegraph-Journal

Hampton Huskies running back Kevin Morrell fumbles the ball as Saint John High Greyhound Aaron Gordon attempts to grab it during first half high school playoff action on Saturday

ST. STEPHEN - The St. Stephen Spartans clinched first place in the New Brunswick High School Football League's 10-man division with a convincing 35-12 win over the Harbour View Vikings on Saturday.

The Spartans finished with a 7-1 record and will host the fourth-place J.M.A. Cougars (4-4) on Saturday. The Vikings (6-2) will host the third-place Simonds Seabees (5-3).

In Stephen, Mike McSorley started things for the hosts in the first quarter when he ran the ball into the endzone from one yard out. Quarterback Matt Sode booted the ball through the uprights for the single point for a 7-0 lead.

After a scoreless second quarter, Sode notched a one-yard major and added a single point after the touchdown for a 14-0 lead. Later in the third, Joel Wilcox scored from five yards out, followed by another single point from Sode for a commanding 21-0 lead.

The Vikings put a crooked number on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter when John Philips hauled in a 20-yard pass from Jordan Blizzard to make it 21-6.

But Wilcox answered with an 11-yard TD run, followed by another PAT from Sode, giving the Spartans a comfortable 22-point cushion.

After Harbour View's Jeremy Monaghan ran into the endzone on a two-yard run, Wilcox scored his third TD of the day and Sode was money for another single point to complete the scoring.

In other 10-man action, the J.M.A. Armstrong Cougars defeated the Rothesay Redhawks 40-26, while the Simonds Seabees were awarded a win over the St. Malachy's Saints by virtue of a forfeit.

In 12-man division quarter-final action, the Saint John Greyhounds outlasted the Hampton Huskies 25-20 at Shamrock Park Field.

Kyle Hiltz, Joel Seale and Aaron Gordon scored touchdowns for the Greyhounds. Chris Chesworth chipped in with six points for the winners and Seale added a rouge for another point.

Marcel St. Pierre, Jerrit Northrup and Mike O'Brien scored touchdowns for the Huskies. Mike Dykens added a pair of points in the losing cause.

In other 12-man action, it was MacNaughton 17 Harrison Trimble 6; Tantramar 21 Riverview 17; Fredericton 26 Oromocto 0.

In semifinal action this weekend, MacNaughton will face SJHS and Tantramar will tackle Fredericton High.

MacNaughton to clash with Saint John High Greyhounds

By Sean Hatchard
Times & Transcript Staff
As published on page D1 on October 30, 2006

JOEL CULLIGAN/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT

Riverview High's Steven Collette knocks Matt Landry of the Tantramar Titans off his feet before he is hit again by Andrew Wortman during New Brunswick High School Football League playoff action Saturday in Riverview. Titans won and advanced to the provincial semifinals.

The last time the Tantramar Titans and Riverview High Royals met, Tantramar was left embarrassed.

And when it mattered the most on Saturday, the Titans weren't about to let it happen again.

Tantramar overcame a 14-0 deficit to defeat Riverview High 21-17 in a New Brunswick High School Football League 12-man division quarter-final in Riverview.

The win avenged a 37-6 regular season home loss to the Royals three weeks ago.

"It didn't take much for the boys to get fired up for this football game," Titans head coach Dave Burns said.

"We knew they caught us on a bad day last time, we had some key guys injured at that point, but good for them. But we felt that if we came out and played good football, we should do all right this time."

Tantramar advanced to a provincial semifinal for the first time since 1999. Titans, who visit the defending New Brunswick champion Fredericton High Black Kats in a semifinal Saturday at 1 p.m., have lost in a quarter-final in each of the past six seasons.

"We've had some really good teams over the past six years or so, but just couldn't get over that hump. We'd do good in the regular season and then have an early exit," Burns said.

"This time it was a little different. We came in as the underdogs, playing on the road and getting hammered by them in our last game, but it worked out this time."

MacNaughton Highlanders host the Saint John High Greyhounds in the other semifinal Friday at 7 p.m. at Rocky Stone Memorial Field. MacNaughton beat the Harrison Trimble Trojans 17-6 in a quarter-final Friday night.

In other quarter-finals on Saturday, Fredericton High blanked the Oromocto High Blues 26-0 and Saint John High edged the Hampton High Huskies 25-20.

In Riverview Saturday, the Royals roared out to a 14-0 second quarter lead on a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Greg Diamond.

Titans started the comeback late in the second quarter when Stephen Bohan's 60-yard punt return set up a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Joey Burns to Matt Landry to cut the lead to 14-7, but Riverview High's Andrew Lewis kicked a field goal to go into the half leading 17-7.

Tantramar took over with a strong third quarter. Burns rolled out and scored on a 25-yard run and then Burns hooked up with Bohan on a 47-yard touchdown pass to take the lead for good.

"There was never really any doubt we could come back. We had just scored in the second quarter and you could really see the motivation on the boys' faces," Dave Burns said. "We came out up in the second half, our defence started wearing down Riverview and getting in their back field and we took control."

Ben LeBlanc and Cameron Wilson each caught touchdown passes from Diamond for the Royals.

It's the second straight season Riverview High was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

"We're disappointed to end it this way. We had a great week of practice, my assistant coaches did a fantastic job like they did all year, but it was a typical playoff game. If you make mistakes, it will cost you," Royals head coach Mark Lenehan said.

10-man Division

J.M.A. Armstrong Cougars are headed to the 10-man division playoffs.

Cougars downed the Rothesay High Red Hawks 40-26 in their final regular season game Friday night.

J.M.A. Armstrong, which finished fourth at 4-4, visit the first-place St. Stephen High Spartans (7-1) Saturday at 1 p.m. in a semifinal.

Justin Scott ran for three 50-yard plus touchdowns for the Cougars while quarterback Jesse Elson threw touchdown passes.

By MIKE POWER
mpower@dailygleaner.com
As published on page B1 on October 30, 2006

THE DAILY GLEANER/DAVID SMITH PHOTO

Elliot Thompson of the Fredericton High School Black Kats tries to evade the tackle of Oromcoto High School Art World Blues' Chris Bruce during Saturday's provincial high school west division playoff game at FHS Field. Black Kats won 26-0.

Fredericton High School Black Kats wore out their local rivals Saturday afternoon on their way to advancing along the provincial high school football playoff trail.

The Black Kats used a punishing ground game to overwhelm a game Oromocto High School Art World Blues team 26-0 Saturday in front of about 200 chilled fans at FHS Field.

That puts FHS into Saturday's provincial semifinal scheduled for FHS Field against the Tantramar High Titans of Sackville, who upset Riverview High Royals 20-17 Saturday in Riverview. The other semifinal features Bernice MacNaughton of Moncton against Saint John High Greyhounds in Moncton. MacNaughton defeated Harrison Trimble of Moncton 17-6 while Saint John ousted Hampton High Huskies 25-20 at Shamrock Park.

FHS overwhelmed the Blues with strength in numbers and a steel trap defence. It was also FHS which made the big plays that can, and in this case did, turn a game around.

As for that numerical advantage, that had more to do with the Blues than the Kats, FHS had as many players as they've had all season. The Blues, on the other hand, looked like the cast of the reality television series "Survivor." Their chances were greatly hindered by injuries, pregame injuries and some incurred during the game. In the end they barely had enough guys in uniform to field an offence and a defence.

"We started the game with 24 guys in uniform," said OHS Rob Wilson. "We had seven guys going both ways. We rolled the dice and tried to get by with that. Then the injuries started and we lost the roll. This loss had nothing to do with a lack of heart. It was more a lack of bodies."

The most serious injury was to Matt Harmon who was levelled by a block from Kats' Dan Reid and briefly knocked out. Harmon was taken to hospital by ambulance holding up the game for 40 minutes. As it turned out, Harmon, who quickly regained consciousness after the play, suffered a minor concussion.

The Kats' defence, a group that has given up 40 points in eight games, again proved to be too much for the Blues.

"For all the seniors, this is it. if you lose, you're done," said FHS defensive back Dave Kingston. "Some of us might go on to the next level but for most of us. this is it for us. With that in mind we're playing with a lot of pride. Shutting out another team, especially a good team is something we take personal pride in as a unit."

Kingston made three plays that dictated how the game would end.

Early on, after FHS had missed a couple of field goals to lead only 2-0, Kingston returned a punt 45 yards to put the offence at the Oromocto 25-yard line. From that range, a field goal by Zac Cann didn't miss and the home side went up 5-0. What made the punt return memorable, besides the yardage, was that Kingston dropped the ball twice before finally picking it up in a crowd of Blue uniforms and somehow escaped to go a long way.

"The coaches told us to return all the punts up the sideline," Kingston said. "So when I had control of the ball, I just took off up the line. I think they were expecting me to cut inside. I got a couple of good blocks and to be honest a couple of their guys just fell down."

The 5-0 lead stood at the half, but again only because of Kingston.

With two minutes remaining, Blues quarterback Jordan Heather dropped the perfect pass into the hands of tight-end Ryan Metcalfe who took off for the long run to the distant FHS goal line. He went all of 84 yards before Kingston lunged full length to trip him up on the five yard line.

The Blues took three cracks at the end zone but the FHS defence held solid and got the ball back to end the threat with no damage done. "I kind of had to make that play," Kingston said. "The whole thing was because I had blown the coverage, so when you mess up you have to get on your horse and make it good."

Kingston's fingertip save may have changed the game.

"If we score seven, we would go to the half with the lead," Wilson said. "I really thought at that point the game was very much in the balance. I thought FHS was playing not to lose instead of playing to win. If we had scored, maybe it would have sparked something for the start of the second half."

Instead, it was FHS which took the game away in the third quarter. And again, it was Kingston making the big play. On the Blues first offensive series of the second half, Heather was picked off by Kingston who returned the pick 32 yards to put his team on the OHS 13-yard line. Two plays later, quarterback Craig Prime, filling in for Andrew Hickey for one series, scored on a one-yard keeper. Cann's convert made the score 12-0.

The game was broken open at that point. Late in the third quarter, another interception by the FHS defence - this time Ryan Soles - set up a second touchdown. Hickey was back under centre this time but scored on a similiar play as Prime, running off tackle for the major.

Hickey and Prime hooked up on a 12-yard scoring play to round out the scoring. Cann made the convert for the final margin of victory.

Highlanders eliminate Trojans

By Sean Hatchard
Times & Transcript Staff
As published on page C1 on October 28, 2006

VIKTOR PIVOVAROV/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT

MacNaughton's Nathan Cormier runs with the ball as Harrison Trimble's Nicholas Kukkonen plants himself in front for a tackle during last night's New Brunswick High School Football League playoff game at Rocky Stone Memorial Field.

A high-powered offence. A stingy defence. And one big play after another.

MacNaughton Highlanders have found the recipe for success in high school football.

Highlanders scored all of their points in the opening half en route to a 17-6 victory over the Harrison Trimble Trojans in a New Brunswick High School Football League 12-man division quarter-final at Rocky Stone Memorial Field last night.

MacNaughton, which finished first in the Eastern Conference regular season, advances to a provincial semifinal next weekend against the lowest seed remaining from the Western Conference.

"The first step in the playoffs is sometimes the hardest and Trimble definitely played a tough second half, but it was a nice win," Highlanders head coach Ed Wasson said.

"It's a long way to a championship and we're just going to take this one step at a time, but we look forward to playing the other conference next week."

In another provincial quarter-final today, the Riverview High Royals host the Tantramar Titans at 1 p.m. in Riverview.

At Rocky Stone last night, Justin Vaughan scored on a seven-yard run in the first quarter to give the Highlanders a 6-0 lead and they never looked back.

"I like the way we started and that was our game plan to score early and control the clock in the second half and I think we executed that very well," Wasson said.

Nathan Cormier added to the damage in the second quarter with a three-yard touchdown run of his own. Quarterback Eric Daigle and Dylan Hollohan then hooked up on a two-point conversion.

Cormier later kicked a 25-yard field goal to give MacNaughton a 17-0 lead at halftime.

Quarterback Daigle has a lot of weapons to work with on the Highlanders offence. He can hand off to tailbacks Cormier, Vaughan, K.J. MacNeil and Jordan McQuinn for the ground attack or go to the air to a receiving corps, which includes Hollohan and Nick Kaminsky.

"We don't have that one superstar, but we have a well-balanced offence and we use all of them," Wasson said.

Wasson likes his defence, too.

"They've been so solid all year and that's a compliment to our defensive coaches," the coach said of his defence, which gave up just 34 points in seven regular season games.

Harrison Trimble woke up in the second half and was able to drive down field. Quarterback Nicholas Kukkonen, the heart and soul of the Trojans playing in the last game of his four-year high school career, tossed a touchdown pass to Tyler Purcey with 3:38 remaining, but that's as close as it got.

"Our team had a different personality in the second half and shut them out 6-0, but it was too little, too late," Harrison Trimble head coach Perry Kukkonen said. "Our kids worked hard and I'm very proud of them, but MacNaughton was the better team tonight."

In quarter-finals out of the Western Conference today at 1 p.m., the first-place Fredericton High Black Kats host the fourth-place Oromocto High Blues and the second-place Saint John High Greyhounds entertain the third-place Hampton High Huskies.

Cross-over semifinals go next weekend.

Spartans armed with incentive

High School: While the 10-man division season winds down, the 12-man division enters the post-season

By Scott Briggs
Telegraph-Journal
As published on page B9 on October 27, 2006

CINDY WILSON/TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL

The offensive line for the Saint John High Greyhounds has been a key to the team's success this season. From left are Sean McGovern, Jordi Crowther, Jim Henderson, Jordan Dickens and Chris Zeuchner. On Saturday they'll be put to the test hen they face the Hampton High Huskies at 1 p.m. at Shamrock Park in 12-man division quarter-final action.

ST. STEPHEN - With a win on Saturday, the St. Stephen Spartans (6-1) can clinch first place in the New Brunswick High School Football League's 10-man division.

But the grid iron grudge match against the Harbour View Vikings (6-1) at 1 p.m. in St. Stephen means more than just taking over the top spot before next weekend's playoffs. It's also the Nick Desilets Game.

Desilets, who passed away three years ago, was a St. Stephen football coach who worked with many of the Spartans' current players.

"It's a big game for us," Spartans head coach Tom Hart said. "We'd like to honour him, there's some emotion involved."

The contest is also about redemption. The Vikings defeated the Spartans 34-27 on Sept. 30.

"We have to play a bit better on defence," Hart said. "We've had just one bad game defensively and that was the one. They have a couple of explosive guys who made plays on us.

"We were up on them early and then they ended up getting a few bounces," the coach continued.

"But we have to make our own luck. I expect it to be a really good game."

St. Stephen's offence is fueled by quarterback Matt Sode, along with tailbacks Joel Wilcox (also a linebacker and fullback), Daniel Marshall (also a free safety) and Mike McSorley (also a fullback). Whether rushing the quarterback or shutting down a passing game, defensive end Brad Copping (also a tight end) figures to play a key role in Saturday's tilt as well for St. Stephen.

Spartans ball carrier Daniel Marshall and his St. Stephen teammates can clinch first place with a win over Harbour View on Saturday.

"We have a lot of guys who play both ways," Hart said about his squad's strengths. "We also have a group of kids we've had since they were in the ninth and 10th grade.

"We don't have to do much motivation. We had to pick seven captains. There's a core of eight or 10 guys that just makes things happen and get the whole team going."

Hart said the Week 4 loss to Harbour View may have helped his charges.

"It's not a bad thing to lose sometimes," he said. "I think that was a character-builder.

"We haven't seen another team that's as explosive as they are. Our offence is built more on moving the ball up the field as opposed to making a big play. We're trying to limit the amount of big plays they get."

Meanwhile, this weekend's 10-man docket also includes the Rothesay Redhawks (2-5-0) hosting the J.M.A. Armstrong Cougars (3-4-0) tonight a 7 p.m. at Shamrock Field.

Saturday's other clash has the St. Malachy's Saints (0-7-0) visiting the Simonds Seabees (4-3-0) at 1 p.m.

The 12-man division begins its quarter-finals when the Harrison Trimble Trojans (3-4-0) visit the MacNaughton Highlanders (5-1-1) Friday at 7 p.m. On Saturday, the Riverview Royals (5-1-1) host the Tantramar Titans (5-2-0), the Oromocto Blues (2-5-0) travel to Fredericton to face the Black Kats (7-0-0) and the Saint John Greyhounds (6-1-0) host the Hampton Huskies (5-2-0). All three games begin at 1 p.m.

By Sean Hatchard
Times & Transcript Staff
As published on page D3 on October 27, 2006

Two years ago, Dan Barristo was a backup defensive back, getting his first taste of the New Brunswick High School Football League 12-man division with the MacNaughton Highlanders.

The Grade 10 rookie saw limited action on the field, but helped MacNaughton win its first ever provincial football championship, defeating the Fredericton High Black Kats 13-9 in the New Brunswick final.

Two years later, he's a starting linebacker and wants to end his high school football career in style, bringing another provincial title back to MacNaughton.

"That would probably be one of the top highlights for the rest of my life. After winning one already, I know it's one of the best feelings I've ever had," Barristo, the lone remaining member of the 2004 Highlanders championship team, said this week.

"You work hard all year and you come out as champions. The feeling is pretty much indescribable."

Barristo and the Highlanders begin the 2006 playoffs tonight when they host the Harrison Trimble Trojans in a provincial quarter-final at 7 p.m. at Rocky Stone Memorial Field.

MacNaughton (5-1-1) finished first in the Eastern Conference. Harrison Trimble (3-4) was fourth.

Another quarter-final features the second-place Riverview High Royals (5-1-1) taking on the third-place Tantramar Titans (5-2) tomorrow at 1 p.m. in Riverview.

Quarter-finals out of the Western Conference have first-place Fredericton High (7-0) home to the fourth-place Oromocto High Blues (2-5) and the second-place Saint John High Greyhounds (6-1) hosting the third-place Hampton High Huskies (5-2). Both games are slated for tomorrow at 1 p.m.

Cross-over semifinals follow next weekend and the New Brunswick final - the Ed Skiffington Trophy Game - is scheduled for Nov. 11 at Rocky Stone.

Barristo had a minor role in MacNaughton's 2004 championship, but said he learned big, big lessons from that Highlanders team.

"I learned a lot about leadership and what it takes to bring a team together and win like that. I've taken that role of the older guys now and feel like I'm a bigger part of the team and I try to help the younger guys out," the Grade 12 student said.

"We worked hard all year that year, gave it everything we had and it paid off and it feels a lot like this year. I see a lot of the same things with this team this year and we're going to give it all we have to try to do it again."

MacNaughton and Harrison Trimble met just once this season with the Highlanders coming away with a 21-7 win in Week 3. Trojans started the season slow losing their first three games, but then turned it around and won three of their last four regular season games.

"We know it won't be easy because they'll be coming to play. They've picked up their game a lot lately and played a tough game against Riverview (8-0 Trimble loss) last weekend," Barristo, 17, said of the Trojans.

"We're feeling good about our team, too. We're coming together as a team and our defence has been really strong and our offence has really picked up their game from the beginning of the year.

"I don't really see too many weaknesses. We just need to work hard in practices and get ready for the team we'll be facing and we'll see what happens."

Riverview High and Tantramar also met just once this season and the Royals won big, a 37-6 road victory in Sackville three weeks ago. Riverview High is hoping to avoid a first-round playoff exit like it had last year against Saint John High. Tantramar has lost in a provincial quarter-final in each of the past six seasons.

Meanwhile, the J.M.A. Armstrong Cougars (3-4) wrap up the 10-man division regular season tonight when they visit the Rothesay High Redhawks (2-5) at 7 p.m. at Shamrock Field.

By MIKE POWER
mpower@dailygleaner.com
As published on page B2 on October 27, 2006

Two local high school football rivals will meet for the third and final time this season Saturday and this time it will be the end of the line for one of them.

The Fredericton High School Black Kats will host the Oromocto High School Art World Blues in a 1 p.m. game at FHS Field in a provincial quarter-final game. The winner goes on to meet a team crossing over from the East Division in the semifinal. The loser puts the pads away for another year.

The oddsmakers, if there were such things in New Brunswick high school football, would be calling for a one-sided FHS win in tomorrow's Western Division match-up.

After all the Black Kats are the top team in the provincial 12-man league with a 7-0 record the only perfect team in the province. The Blues on the other hand, fit the underdog role to a tee having gone 2-5 on the season, the ninth best record in the province.

It is a rematch of last season's provincial final game, won by FHS 26-9, but that means little. The Black Kats won both meetings this season, winning 36-13 in week one and 28-0 last week in the regular season finale for both clubs.

So without doubt the Black Kats will win tomorrow and move on right?

"You can't say that," said FHS nose guard Brad LeBritton. "This is a whole new season; anything can happen at playoff time. Teams react differently in playoffs than they do in league games sometimes. If we think for a minute we can win with anything but our best effort we would be wrong."

But all the signs say it will be a Fredericton win, how could anything else happen?

"We think we can beat them," said OHS lineman Will Martin. "There's not much question they have a great team, but we're pretty good as well. We've been improving, so hopefully we're at a point where we can pull of an upset.

"We know we have to play mistake free. We know we have to execute our plays and not take stupid penalties. A lot of things have to go right for us, but many of those things are within our power to make happen. It can be done."

While the teams have been on relatively equal footing over the past decade or so, this game resembles a contest from the early 1990's when OHS happily donned the underdog suit and lull FHS into a sense of false security.

"There's a lot of pressure on (FHS) to win," Martin said. "They are supposed to win. If they don't people will wonder why. Still that's not how we're going at this, maybe they do have that pressure, but we put pressure on ourselves. We want to win, we have worked hard, as hard as any team, and we feel that we should at least go on the field with our own expectations of winning."

Of course, when the game starts expectations are out the window. All that will matter is how the game is played.

"We have a simple plan," LeBritton said. "We want to shut the other team down and give the ball to our offence because we know they can score. OHS likes to pass the ball, That's their strength, we need to collapse the pocket and force him to get out and run, if we have good coverage downfield who knows what happens then."

And how do you go about upsetting a team that scored a league high 255 points in seven games?

"We have to take away their passing game," Miller said. "If we let them have the pass to set up their run then they will pretty much dictate the game. We are better equipped to take away the pass and try to take on their running backs.

"Even if we are successful it won't be easy. They have a lot of different ways to score so we have to be aware of that. We have to try to win the game on the line and pressure their quarterback."

And in some of that the two teams reach a rare point of agreement.

"It's going to come down to who wins it in the trenches," LeBritton said. "This is the kind of game where the play on the line will pretty much decide who wins."

Today's other western semifinal will feature the Hampton High School Huskies traveling to play the second place Saint John High Greyhounds.

High survivors play on home field in the semifinal next week, with winners advancing to the championship game at Moncton's Rocky Stone Field Nov. 11.

The Kats are the reigining leaguc champions after beating the Blues on home field last year in the title game.

Kudos to grid Lions for making a game of it in season finale

Mike Power
Schoolyard
As published on page B3 of the Daily Gleaner on October 24, 2006

With high school football playoffs less than a week away, here's one final piece of business for the guys who didn't make it to the post season.

A tip of the hat to the Leo Hayes High School St. Mary's Lions who fought to the end of a tough season. In case you never noticed, they lost their final game of the season 18-14 on the road in Hampton.

The Lions ended up 0-7 and going down to play Hampton nobody would have noticed if they had rolled over and played dead. Instead they almost won the game. A late penalty hurt them and by all accounts let the game get away.

Instead of stalling a drive by the Huskies, a late hit on a receiver reinvigorated the march and Hampton scored the winning points. That's a heartbreaker for sure but good for LHHS for showing up to play hard.

Last week I stirred up a hornet's nest with my column questioning the necessity for high school football to award the championship game to a site instead of allowing one of the teams in the final to host the game as they have in past seasons.

I won't go around with that again except to say thanks to all the folks in Moncton for reading.

One argument that did surface from some of my new friends in the Hub City was that it wasn't right that FHS gets to host the championship game so often because they have such a large student body.

In other words, with so many students to pick from, they should win their way to the championship game every year. Even with a system rotating the game between east and west, FHS would still host half the games.

That's an old chestnut. Every time FHS wins a provincial title in any sport it is brought up as a salve to the losers.

It's also an argument of some merit. Yes, that kind of talent depth is invaluable. It allows FHS to absorb injuries, it allows them to platoon players in sports like football and to specialize in a specific position. Other teams have kids playing two positions. Playing on both the offence and defence rarely allows them to be off the field for coaches to make adjustments with them.

No doubt about it. With a large student population, Fredericton High School does have a great resource to build from.

The hole in the theory is: so why doesn't FHS win every year in every sport? Their hockey team has just recently emerged from a couple of bad seasons. It only has one provincial title in hockey in almost 30 years. And that football team that some of you from the east sent me letters defaming as a product of just a big school has won four titles in 12 years. That's hardly outrageous domination in my books. Sometimes you just have to give credit where it is due.

The situation in Atlantic Conference football has become quite a developing story. With illness on two of the four campuses that play football taking two games out of the schedule things became quite jammed up.

Now we are told that all four of the teams in the league will make the playoffs instead of just three with the top team getting a first round bye.

I had to chuckle when this story first broke and Saint Mary's game with Mount Allison was postponed. The reaction of Huskies head coach Steve Sumarah was a little off the wall. "I've never heard of anything like this," Sumarah was quoted as saying. "I just can't get my head around it."

Apparently Coach Steve is easily confused.

That wasn't a typo on your Monday university scoreboard. The University of New Brunswick men's soccer team beat Memorial University 7-0 on Saturday and then were held to a 0-0 tie at home Sunday. Those two lost points would have lifted them into a tie for fourth and just a point out of second with a week to play. Now they are a fifth place team looking for a break.

It's kind of late in the season to be pulling that stuff. Few things will steal sleep from a coach then going into the playoffs not knowing which version of his team will be showing up.

St. Thomas hockey having its own radio broadcast outlet is a good thing for STU fans. For years they have been the other team on CHSR-FM, the student run station funded by both local schools.

It's shame they left CHSR, but really, there was no way they could have cleared off enough air time to broadcast all the STU games and still serve UNB sports, not to mention the many other areas of culture the station has to fit in weekly. UNB sports should lend some of its marketing savvy to CHSR now that it is the Varsity Reds exclusive broadcast partner. A nice sponsorship package for the student station would no doubt be welcome.

Mike Power can be contacted at mpower@dailygleaner.com. His weekly column on school-related activities appears Tuesdays.