The Moncton Doc Dylan's Marshals continued their nightmare season with a 48-14 loss to the Dartmouth Knights in Maritime Football League action on Saturday at Rocky Stone Memorial Field.

Moncton, 0-6, and the UNBSJ Wolves of Saint John, 1-4, are battling for the eighth and final playoff spot in the nine-team league. The Marshals have two game remaining including one against the wolves.

``I didn't know if we could beat Dartmouth, but I figured we could be competitive with them,'' said Moncton head coach and general manager Dan Fougere. ``That's what makes this lopsided loss especially disappointing.

``We just didn't seem to be in the game. Inexperience was a big thing that hurt us in this game. In the first half, we didn't move the ball and we couldn't stop them defensively. We moved the ball better in the second half so that's something to build off going into our next game.''

Dartmouth held a 28-0 lead at halftime en route to improving its record to 2-3. Moncton scored its two touchdowns on a 25-yard run by quarterback Craig Fougere and a 20-yard pass to Caleb Jordan.

The converts were kicked by Scott LeBlanc.

The Riverview Mustangs and Saint John Wanderers, both 5-0, sit atop the league. The Halifax Shockers, 4-2, and Saint John Longhorns, 3-2, currently round out the top four clubs that will advance to playoffs and compete for the Maritime Bowl.

The fifth- through eighth-place teams will go to the playoffs and battle for a consolation championship trophy.

Halifax picked up a win the easy way on Saturday when the Prince Edward Island Privateers forfeited their road game. UNBSJ defeated Capital Area Gladiators of Fredericton 4-3 yesterday.

Both Metro Moncton clubs will play in Saint John next weekend.

Moncton will meet the Longhorns on Saturday and Riverview will face UNBSJ on Sunday. 

The University of New Brunswick at Saint John Wolves won their first game in Maritime Football League action on Sunday, edging the Capital Area Gladiators 4-3.

The Wolves' record now sits at 1-4, while the Gladiators fell to 2-4. The game was an unusual one, in terms of how it was decided. A rouge scored by the Wolves early in the game would prove to be the difference.

Trailing 3-1 in the fourth quarter, the Wolves put together a five-minute drive and got in range for a field goal. The kick was good and gave the Wolves a one-point lead with less than a minute to go.

From there, the defence shut the door, stalling the Gladiators' two late-game drives.

"It was pretty much a defensive struggle," said Gladiators defensive end and coach Jamie Edwards. "It was a pretty good hockey score."

On Saturday, The Halifax Shockers picked up a win when the Prince Edward Island Privateers forfeited. The Dartmouth Knights defeated the Moncton Marshals 48-14. On Friday, the Saint John Wanderers beat the Saint John Longhorns 27-7.

The Wanderers will travel to P.E.I. on Saturday to take on the Privateers. The Longhorns host the Marshals Saturday at Simonds field in a 4 p.m. start while the Wolves host the Mustangs on Sunday at the Canada Games field at 4 p.m.

Jim Mather just misses a pass from from Saint John Longhorns quarterback Reece Roche during action against the Saint John Wanderers in the Maritime Football League Friday. The Wanders remained undefeated with a 27-7 victory over their crosstown rivals in the game played at Simonds High School. Jon Haines led the winners with two touchdowns while teammates Mike Thomas and Josh Brown had one TD each. Phil Dobson recorded four sacks for the winners. Roche scored the lone TD for the Longhorns.

The Moncton Doc Dylan's Marshals are searching for a positive.

``A win would definitely boost our morale and boost our ego,'' said Marshals head coach and general manager Dan Fougere, whose club hosts the Dartmouth Knights in Maritime Football League action today at 4 p.m. at Rocky Stone Memorial Field.

``As we head down the stretch, there's a few teams battling for the last playoff spot. If we can pull off a win (today), we'll be right in the mix.''

It's a nine-team league and upon completion of the regular season the top four clubs move into the upper bracket for playoffs to compete for the Maritime Bowl. The next four finishers qualify for playoffs and will compete for a consolation championship trophy.

Dartmouth (1-3), the UNBSJ Wolves of Saint John (0-4) and Moncton (0-5) are battling for a spot in the lower bracket and one of them will miss the playoffs. Moncton controls its own destiny given that it faces Dartmouth today and UNBSJ to complete the eight-game regular season.

``I think we can be competitive with teams in the lower half of the league,'' said Fougere. ``We had a pretty good practice (on Thursday night). We introduced some new plays on offence and worked on a few things.

``We only have 26 players left out of the 38 who started the season with us. We had 22 or 23 guys out to practice this week so that's pretty good. These are the guys who are committed. It would be nice to have 36-40 players because there's injuries and guys not showing up. You would only need 30-35 players if everyone showed up.''

The Riverview Mustangs and Saint John Wanderers, both 5-0, sit atop the league.

The Wanderers defeated the Saint John Longhorns 27-7 last night. The Longhorns and Halifax Shockers, both 3-2, currently round out the top four who would be in the upper bracket competing for the Maritime Bowl.

Riverview has a bye in the schedule this weekend. The Prince Edward Island Privateers visit the Halifax Shockers today and UNBSJ hosts the Capital Area Gladiators of Fredericton tomorrow.

Moncton is coming off a 17-14 loss to Capital Area last weekend. After that game, Fougere expressed his disappointment that only 20 players were showing up for practice and he commented the future of the Marshals was in doubt.

``I think what's going to happen is we'll sit down after the season with the remaining players and see where we want to go from there,'' said Fougere. ``If they feel that it's worthwhile to continue this team, then we'll have to think about what needs to be done. Obviously, we have to recruit some players and coaches.

``The big thing is I don't mind young and inexperienced players because they will eventually get experience. It's the commitment factor that we need. You can't run a team if you don't know how many players you're going to have from practice to practice.''

For many teams, true evaluations are reserved for the post-season.

That's where they usually find out what they're made of and where their team ranks.

Not so for the Saint John Longhorns.

The Longhorns, in the midst of a successful 3-1 run in the Maritime Football League, will know exactly where they stand after tonight's prime time city matchup against arch rival Saint John Wanderers at Simonds High School, beginning at 7 p.m.

"When you have to live in the city with the same guys who beat you the past three years in the playoffs, there is definitely a little bit of animosity," said Longhorns quarterback Reece Roche.

This year's regular-season date features the 4-0 Wanderers, winners of 22 straight and the Longhorns, making a case as the league's most improved entry with better numbers in all areas of their sporting ledger.

The true test is tonight against the Wanderers, who in each of the past two seasons, rolled to a big win over the Longhorns in the regular season and then eliminated the Longhorns with an equally dominating triumph in the playoffs.

"Quite honestly, I am pretty nervous because all eyes, as far as football goes, in this city are on this game," said Longhorns new coach Eric Sabean, credited with much of the team's improvement.

"Everybody wants an opportunity to beat the Wanderers. Everybody wants to be the team that breaks that streak. Our guys want a share of the attention and the respect but at the same time, they know they have to go out and play probably the best football they have ever played to beat a team like the Wanderers, who are just so well prepared."

While they haven't met since last year's New Brunswick semifinal round, they have both played the University of New Brunswick Saint John Wolves and Halifax Shockers this season.

The Wanderers downed the University of New Brunswick 43-0 and defeated Halifax 47-13 while the Longhorns beat UNBSJ 28-0 but fell 35-18 to Halifax.

That said, the Wanderers are eagerly anticipating the showdown.

"The Longhorns are playing really well," said Wanderers head coach Mark Gallagher.

"They have a new coach and he has obviously done a fantastic job with the team. They don't even look like the same team on the field. Their penalties are down, they look a lot more organized and they look good on offence."

The Longhorns are averaging more than a touchdown better per game than last year and their defence is stingy as well, yielding 16 points against per contest.

And the timing is right as both teams are coming off wins last weekend.

The Wanderers used three touchdowns from Jon Haines to blank the Wolves while Gary Brown and Peter Shea each scored a pair of majors as the Longhorns got past the Prince Edward Island Privateers.

"The Wanderers are undefeated and have been undefeated for 20-something games and we want to break that streak," said Roche, who figures balance on offence and all-around excellence are required to post the win.

"We also want to be one of the top teams in the Maritime Football League."

In other action Saturday, P.E.I. travels to Halifax while Moncton hosts Dartmouth.

Sunday, UNBSJ entertains the Capital Area Gladiators at 4 p.m. at Canada Games Stadium.

But the Wanderers-Longhorns are expected to draw the most attention.

"You envy them when you see the respect that they get," said Sabean. "We want the same thing for our team, but we are not trying to get ahead of ourselves. We have a lot of work to do to get there."

There's a sad truth about the Maritime Football League.

The regular season and playoffs are just a formality. The Riverview Mustangs and Saint John Wanderers are the class of the league for the third consecutive season and it's considered a given that they will clash in the Maritime Bowl.

``It's an ongoing thing each year that they're the top two clubs,'' said Moncton Marshals head coach and general manager Dan Fougere. ``People just perceive they're going to meet in the Maritime Bowl and if you look at it that's exactly what's going to happen.''

``You hate to say it, but it's most definitely just a formality before we meet the Wanderers in the Maritime Bowl,'' said Riverview chief executive officer Mark Crandall. ``In all honesty, until the other teams get to the top echelon it's just us and the Wanderers.''

Riverview, 5-0, and Saint John, 4-0, sit atop the league. Most likely, neither will have faced a legitimate test before they play against each other on July 21 at Simonds Field in Saint John.

Riverview has outscored opponents 218-14 in five games. It has posted shutouts in the past three contests, outscoring the opposition 138-0 during that stretch.

Saint John has outscored opponents 167-19 in four games.

``It's hard to say,'' said league commissioner Colin Stewart when asked whether it's a given that the Mustangs and Wanderers will meet in the Maritime Bowl. ``Halifax or Dartmouth could jump in there. That's why they play the game.''

The Halifax Shockers or Dartmouth Knights contending for the league championship? Come on, get real. The truth is they couldn't find their way to the championship game even if they had a compass, map, radar and a large search party.

Riverview destroyed both those clubs -- 41-0 over Halifax and 31-7 over Dartmouth. Saint John pounded Halifax 47-13 and it hasn't yet played Dartmouth.

``It's something we're obviously looking at,'' said Stewart in reference to the Mustangs and Wanderers being head and shoulders above everyone else in the league. ``The longer we play the more we get to see a bigger picture of our league.

``There could be different ways to separate the talent. The idea of having a draft has been thrown around before, but it hasn't stuck. You might get more teams onboard now with the idea of having a draft.''

Upon completion of the eight-game regular season, the top four clubs will advance to the upper bracket in the playoffs and compete for the Maritime Bowl. The next four finishers will qualify for the playoffs and battle for a consolation championship trophy.

So, who will join the Mustangs and Wanderers in the top four bracket? And who will finish at the bottom of the nine-team league and miss the playoffs?

The Saint John Longhorns (3-1) and Wanderers clash tonight.

Moncton (0-5) hosts Dartmouth (1-3) tomorrow at 4 p.m. at Rocky Stone Memorial Field. The Prince Edward Island Privateers (2-2) visit Halifax (3-2) tomorrow and the UNBSJ Wolves of Saint John (0-4) host the Capital Area Gladiators of Fredericton (2-3) on Sunday.

The league obviously faces a problem with a lack of parity. It introduced a two tier playoff format this season in hopes of creating a greater sense of competition.

``This two tier playoff format doesn't make sense to me,'' said Crandall. ``Do fans really want to go watch the bottom four teams play off against each other? No. It's not the direction I think the league needs to take to improve itself.

``The league has come a long way in the past three years with the number of teams and the level of coaching. It's just unfortunate that some programs aren't where they need to be to have parity within the league.''

Crandall points out it's up to the rest of the league to rise up to the level of the Mustangs and Wanderers.

``One of the teams that's doing the best this season is the Saint John Longhorns,'' he said. ``We shared our business plan with them. If we can get other teams onboard in terms of improving their organization, the players will come out. You just have to make your program appealing.

``We've done that with the level of our coaches, the way we run practices and the way we run our program. It's no accident that us and the Wanderers are where we are. We both run good organizations so players want to play for us. There's no reason other teams can't do the same thing.''

There have been 20 games played in the MFL this season. Only five of them have been decided by 14 points or less.

Riverview's chief executive officer knows it's tough to build a fan base when most games are blowouts. Crandall believes the league needs to take steps in the off-season so the talent can be more evenly spread among teams.

``We need three drafts -- one for players in Greater Moncton, another for the Halifax area and another for the Saint John area,'' he said. ``We like the Moncton Marshals organization and we want to see them thrive. Dan Fougere is an extremely well respected man in the football community.

``I'm willing to talk about having a Greater Moncton draft to divide the talent between the Mustangs and Marshals. It's something that's needed to create parity in the league. We won our last three games 46-0, 51-0 and 41-0 and we weren't running up the score. Our second string guys played in the second half and they were still dominating.''

Moncton's head coach and general manager is also interested in a Greater Moncton draft.

``The Marshals introduced the idea of a draft before and the Mustangs didn't want anything to do with it,'' said Fougere. ``They just wanted the draft to be for kids coming out of high school and leave the university players out of it.

``The biggest problem is that the league has no policy on players moving from one team to another. People want to play for the Mustangs and Wanderers so you have guys looking to change teams from year to year. You can basically say the Moncton Marshals are a farm system for the Riverview Mustangs because they've got a lot of our former players.

``If they want to make this a more competitive league, they have to put some rules in place about players moving from team to team. Plus, we also need a draft to split up the talent.''