Week 4: September 26-27

Saint John High improves to 3-0

ST. STEPHEN - The Saint John High Greyhounds trailed early, but not often.

After surrendering the game's first touchdown, the Greyhounds didn't give up another point to the St. Stephen High Spartans on Tuesday in a 35-7 New Brunswick Interscholastic Athletic Association football win. St. Stephen's Scott Bell scored a major on a 12-yard run and the Spartans added a single point for an early 7-0 lead. But the Greyhounds answered when Matt Doucet scored two touchdowns, the first on a 30-yard run and the second from 18 yards out. Quarterback Caleb Jones also scored two TDs. Andrew Parsons added another. Saint John's other highlights included Dave Flood's blocked punt and Chris Freake's interception.

The Greyhounds improved to 3-0, while St. Stephen dropped to 2-1.

Heather return gives Lions the Blues

For a guy who thought his football season might be over three weeks ago, Nathan Heather had a pretty good day Saturday.

Heather of the Oromocto Beaver Brokerage Blues broke a rib in the opening game of the season, an exhibition game loss to St. Malachy's High School, and was told he would be out four to six weeks.

Three weeks later, the combination quarterback/punter/receiver/linebacker played a key role in the Blues' 21-8 win over the Leo Hayes Saint Mary's Lions at Leo Hayes Field.

Heather played defence, some wide receiver and punted a lot for OHS in the first three quarters of Saturday's game. Then with his team looking for something to turn around a game that was slipping away quickly, Heather stepped in at quarterback to relieve rookie Jesse Rae and scored the winning touchdown with a roll out.

The win knocked the Lions from the ranks of the undefeated and, when combined with a 38-1 win by Fredericton High School Black Kats over Sussex High Sonics at Sussex Saturday, created a logjam for second place in the south west Conference.

The Blues, Black Kats and Lions all sit at 2-1 now. The Hampton High School Huskies continue to lead the division with a 3-0 record after a 41-13 win over Kennebecasis Valley.

Saturday's game at Leo Hayes was played in the rain which plagued the area over the weekend. The first half in particular was a soggy mess although the precipitation slowed to a slight drizzle and skies brightened a bit for the second half.

There really wasn't much either team could do in the opening half. The rain pretty much took skill out of the mix. Not unexpectedly, all the scoring in the half came as a result of rain induced mistakes.

After a quarter and a half of three and out drives by both teams, the Blues got a break when Sheldon Borden scooped up a fumble to set up OHS at the Leo Hayes 32-yard line.

The Blues capitalized by going with the power player offence. That would be six straight up the gut carries, five of them by Mitchell Player, more a tractor more than a racehorse and perfect for the muddy conditions.

Player ran for 25 yards on his five carries including an eight-yard thump for the touchdown just a little before the midway mark of the second quarter. Rae converted for the 7-0 lead.

The only other point scored before the half, again by OHS, came on an attempted 30-yard field goal by Heather inside the final minute, set up by another LHHS fumble. The kick was short but bounced into the end zone for a single point.

The second half was a whole different scenario. The Lions launched an early offensive drive keyed by a 40-yard run by Alex Martin to pin the Blues deep in their end. They didn't score on the drive but kept the visitors backed up deep in their own end for all of the third quarter and the first half of the fourth.

The saving grace for the Blues was Heather's punting. His team's offence couldn't get the Lions foot off of their throat, but Heather kept them at bay with punts consistently between 30 and 40 yeads under pressure.

"I understood how important those kicks were going to be," Heather said. "I just used my experience to get the ball out there as far as I could, to do it the best I could. The coaches kept talking to me, getting me focused to get it done."

Finally, though, the Leos broke through. Big running back Damion Dutrisac exploded for a 25 yard scoring run and followed up with a run for the two point conversion to tie the game with a little more than seven minutes remaining.

And they kept coming. On the next drive, they marched the ball to the Oromocto 31 yard line, but on a second and nine, Heather stepped in front of a pass from Nathan Greenbank for an interception.

Two series later, pushed back by a 45-yard Heather punt to their own 20, the Lions fumbled a handoff and suddenly the Blues, who looked dead in the water moments earlier, had the ball on the Leo Hayes nine.

"They didn't stop us today, we stopped ourselves," said LHHS coach Rick Kelly. "We made key mistakes deep in our own end. We turned the ball over and you can't do that. When the game is on the line, you have to do what you can to protect the football. The turnovers are what cost us the game."

And so it went, Heather took over at quarterback and three plays later rolled to his right for the winning touchdown. Mitch Dingley converted to make it 15-8. "We really didn't want to use the kid in that role today," said OHS coach Rob Wilson. "With him just really coming back from injury, we didn't want to chance it if we didn't have to. But it was just the move to make at the time."

Heather wasn't done. Inside the final minutes with Leo Hayes driving, he again picked off Greenbank, this time at midfield, and rambled all the way to the end zone for a second touchdown making the final score 21-8 when the convert was blocked.

"I saw the end zone all the way," Heather said. "I've been so hungry to get to the end zone this season after sitting out those weeks with my rib. I'm just so fortunate that it worked out I was able to get in twice today."

At Sussex, the Black Kats broke out to a 27-1 lead at the half and coasted to their win over the Sonics. Kats scored three times in the first quarter with QB Jeff Madsen finding Tony Nash in the end zone for the first score and then going in from two yards out for the second TD. John Morse ran for a three-yard score later in the quarter.

Madsen found A.J. Durling on a 15-yard pass play for a touchdown in the second quarter. Sussex scored its only point on a single in the second quarter.

Jeff Khoury added a 20-yard field goal for the Kats in the third quarter with their final scoring coming via an interception by Pat Downe of an Aaron Tabor pass in for the TD. Brett Johnson had three converts for FHS with Khoury adding another. The Kats also scored a pair of single points in the fourth quarter to finish out the scoring.

St. Mac's get balanced scoring, and a lot of it
Football Four Saints players score two TDs each en route to a 60-0 senior varsity victory

SAINT JOHN - The St. Malachy's Saints got two touchdown performances from four different players en route to a 60-0 victory over Rothesay High School in South Western Conference high school football action Saturday.

Chris Moore, Nick Noel, Isiah Nise, and Alex McGarvey each scored twice for St. Mac's, 3-0. Jordan Tracy added an interception for a touchdown while Walker Blizzard converted on four touchdowns. Quarterback Trevor Harrison threw four TD passes without an interception against Rothesay High, which fell to 0-3 on the season.

In Sussex, Fredericton High School rolled over the Sussex Sonics, 39-1. Fredericton got on the board early when Jeff Madsen passed to Tony Nash following a fake field goal. Madsen then ran one in from the two-yard line to make it 14-0 in the first quarter. A three-yard run by John Morse made it 20-0 before the quarter was out. Madsen hit Al Durling on a 15-yard pass in the second quarter while Sussex scored a single on a touchback making the score 27-1 at halftime.

In the second half, Fredericton scored on a 20-yard Jeff Khoury field goal, two touchbacks and a Pat Downe touchdown off an interception. Sussex, 0-3, has its next game at Oromocto when they take on the 2-1 Blues on Saturday. Fredericton High takes on Kennebecasis High School in Millidgeville Saturday.

In Fredericton, the St. Mary's Leo Hayes Lions dropped to 2-1 on the season after losing 21-8 to the Oromocto Blues Saturday afternoon in wet, windy conditions.

Oromocto's Mitchell Player capitalized on a Lion's fumble to score the only major of the first half, while Damion Dutrisac ran for a 24-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. A two point conversion tied the game at 8-8.

However, with less than three minutes to play, Oromocto recovered a Leo Hayes fumble deep in the Lions end. Nathan Heather of the Blues ran in from two yards for the game-winning touchdown. Heather scored his second touchdown of the game on an interception with no time left on the clock. The win improved Oromocto's record to 2-1. The Lions travel to Hampton next Saturday to take on the Huskies. Oromocto travels to Sussex to take on the 0-3 Sonics.

Rain forced the cancellation of a game scheduled for Saturday between the St. Stephen High Spartans and the Saint John High Greyhounds in St. Stephen. That game has been rescheduled for Tuesday at 4 p.m.

Highlanders hammer Titans
Riverview High, Moncton High also record high school football wins

No late game heroics were necessary this time.

One week after the Bernice MacNaughton Highlanders needed a last minute field goal to get by the Moncton High Purple Knights, the two-time defending New Brunswick High School Football League champions cruised to a 42-0 victory over the Tantramar Titans at Rocky Stone Memorial Field last night.

Quarterback Scott Kelly threw for 195 yards and two touchdowns as the Highlanders improved their first-place Eastern Conference record to 4-0. The Titans are now 2-2.

In other games yesterday, the Riverview High Royals hammered the Mathieu-Martin Matadors 57-0 and the Moncton High Purple Knights blanked the l'Odyssée Olympiens 38-0.

At Rocky Stone, Kelly connected with Scott Fraser on a 65-yard touchdown pass and hooked up with Blake Stewart 52 yards for another major. The third-year pivot also ran for a two-yard touchdown and scored a two-point convert on a pass to Fraser.

"It was good to get our passing game going. We're very happy with the way our receivers and quarterback responded," said Bernice MacNaughton head coach Ed Wasson. "Developing our passing game just makes everything else easier."

The Highlanders ground game was strong too, finishing with 229 rushing yards. Thomas Blight ran for a pair of touchdowns on six- and seven-yard runs and Blake Williams also found the end zone on a four-yard scamper. Jordan Haley led the team with 82 rushing yards on eight carries. Blight kicked four converts in the win.

Rookie Nick Brooks led the Bernice MacNaughton defence. At his first start at outside linebacker, Brooks collected four sacks and also blocked a punt. Ben Leger led the team in tackles.

"Tantramar threw everything at us. They played tough, typical Tantramar football. It was a very physical game," Wasson said.

Royals 57 Matadors 0

In Riverview, Brett McNeil scored four touchdowns as Riverview High improved to 3-0. Mathieu-Martin fell to 0-3. The four majors give McNeil 12 TDs on the season. He has scored four touchdowns in each of his team's first three games -- victories over Tantramar, l'Odyssée Olympiens and Mathieu-Martin.

McNeil scored majors on two one-yard runs, a 17-yard run and a 10-yard TD reception from quarterback Jon Stevens.

Other touchdowns for the Royals were scored by Cameron Wilson (30-yard interception, 30-yard return), Joey McQuinn (12-yard run), Tim Jay (4-yard run) and J.P. Bowie (2-yard run). Matt Archibald converted all eight touchdowns and Riverview High scored a single.

Purple Knights 38 Olympiens 0

At Rocky Stone, fullback Brad Doiron ran for a pair of touchdowns as Moncton High rolled over l'Odyssée.

The victory improved the Purple Knights' record to 2-1 and lifted them into a tie for third place in the Eastern Conference with Tantramar. The Olympiens dropped to 0-4. Moncton High's Nick Cunningham returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown and Brett Gray recovered a fumble and ran it back 50 yards for another score. "We played hard and took advantage of some turnovers. The kids are into the game, they're doing the things we've been working hard on in practice during the week and it's paying off," said Purple Knights head coach John Allanach. "I'm also really pleased with our defence."

Moncton High also received a 55-yard punt return from Dylan Rogers and a 15-yard field goal and five converts from Colin Monaghan.

"We had a good week of practice after last week's tough (56-0) loss to Riverview and we executed better and reduced our number of mistakes, but Moncton High made sure to make the mistakes that we did make count," said l'Odyssée assistant coach Martin Dupuis.

In a Southwestern Conference game today, the Sussex Sonics (0-2) host the Fredericton High Black Kats (1-1) at 1 p.m.

Ground game powers Simonds

SAINT JOHN - The Simonds Seabees moved to 2-1 in the New Brunswick High School Football League with a 30-0 victory over the Harbour View Vikings at the Mike and Judy Upward Field Friday.

Justin Hanson led the winners with a pair of rushing touchdowns while quarterback Dalton Globe threw for approximately 140 yards and ran for another major. He added a two-point conversion.

Jake Balemans added the other major on the ground while Brandon Donovan and Steven Seward each picked up two points for safeties on defence.

Kyle Bonnevie snatched a pair of interceptions and had five tackles on defence.

Harbour View dropped to 0-3.

Elsewhere, Corey O'Toole rushed for five touchdowns as Hampton downed Kennebecasis Valley 41-13. O'Toole ran for scores of 38, 85, 28, 22, and 18 yards and Mitch O'Neill added a run-scoring dash of 40 yards. Alex Locke booted five conversions.

Eleswhere, Riverview blanked Mathieu Martin 57-0 and Moncton blanked L'Odyssee 38-0.

Action resumes today with four games at 1 p.m.

Sussex hosts Fredericton, St. Malachy's travels to Rothesay, Saint John makes the trek to St. Stephen and Leo Hayes hooks up with Oromocto in Fredericton.