Maritime Football League
2008 Game Summaries

Week 8: July 19-20

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Longhorns made team history Sunday, defeating the Capital Area Gladiators for the first time ever.

Led by Jordan Blizzard's incredible performance, the Longhorns downed the Gladiators 35-21 at Millidgeville Field.

Last year's co-rookie of the year scored on a four-yard plunge and a 12-yard draw play as he piled up 150 yards rushing on the day. The 18-year-old was also 3-for-4 kicking extra points and added a two-point conversion on a broken play.

Dan Tibbetts also had a pair of majors, on a five-yard pitch from Reece Roche, and a seven-yard reception from Roche. Justin Cavan added a punt return TD to round out the scoring for Saint John.

The Longhorns were 0-3 in their history against the Gladiators since entering the league in 2005, including a heartbreaking 21-20 setback last year.

The win improves Saint John's record to 4-3, while Capital Area falls to 2-5.

Meanwhile, the Saint John Alpine Vito's Wanderers beat the Prince Edward Island Privateers 41-8 to continue their perfect season. The Wanderers sit atop the league with an unblemished 7-0 mark while P.E.I. falls to 2-5.

Saint John's other team, the University of New Brunswick Saint John Seawolves, fell 56-0 at the hands of the Dartmouth Knights. The Seawolves remain in the league basement with a 1-6 record. Dartmouth sits in second place at 6-1.

Mustangs host grid Marshals today
Maritime Football League has just two weeks left in its regular season

The Riverview Mustangs are one of the "have" teams in the Maritime Football League. The Moncton Marshals are one of the "have not" squads in the men's senior grid circuit.

The two teams are at opposite ends of the win/loss column with the Mustangs sitting solidly in second place with a 5-1 record and the Marshals mired in last place with a 1-5 slate.

The Mustangs hosts the Marshals Moncton this afternoon at 4 p.m. at Dobson Field in Riverview.

The Mustangs, with two regular season games remaining, are in a battle for second place with the Dartmouth Knights. They need a win today against Moncton and next week against the UNBSJ Wolves (1-5) to guarantee themselves home-field advantage in the playoffs.

Jeff Reath, defensive backs and lineback coach with the Mustangs says despite the seemingly easy tests over the next couple of weeks, his team is not taking anything for granted.

"We don't take any team lightly," Reath said last night. "In a football game anything can happen."

Reath said the main focus of his team right now is to avoid injuries as they get prepared for the playoffs.

"We're dealing with a few injuries at the moment and we'll rest a few players tomorrow (today)," Reath said. "We've got a few kinks to work out over before playoffs."

The Marshals, meanwhile, had to forfeit their game last weekend against the powerful Saint John Wanderers because of numerous injuries and some players on vacation.

Dan Fougere, coach of the Marshals, said his club didn't want to forfeit last weekend's game but it was left with no other choice.

"We just didn't have the manpower to compete against Saint John," Fougere said last night. "There would have been a strong possibility of more injuries and we couldn't chance that,

"Most of our guys either have jobs or are going back to university and they can't afford to be injured."

Fougere said the league should take a long look at making the league two divisions with the stronger teams playing in one league and the weaker teams playing in another.

"Some teams take this football too seriously while others see it as strictly a recreation league. . .for the fun of it," Fougere said.

But Fougere said his club will show up for tomorrow's (today's) game and give it their best.

"We had 18 guys out to practice this week so I expect we'll have enough players to compete."

Playoffs for the Maritime Bowl (McIntyre Cup) commence in two weeks time with No. 1 taking on No. 4 and No. 2 facing No. 3.

The No. 5 through No. 8 teams will compete in playoffs for the Mariner Bowl.

Wanderers, Longhorns, Wolves in playoff positioning battles

SAINT JOHN - With two weeks remaining on the Maritime Football League schedule, there is plenty at stake for all 10 teams.

The league-leading Saint John Wanderers (6-0) still have to wrap up first place in the loop and the home-field advantage in the playoffs that comes with that.

Riverview and Dartmouth are deadlocked for second place at 5-1 while Halifax is in fourth at 4-2.

The 3-3 Saint John Longhorns are alone in fifth place with a chance of moving up in the standings and the University of New Brunswick Saint John Wolves are 1-5, locked in a tie for the eighth and final playoff berth with the Moncton Marshals and the Super City Mean Machine of Halifax.

The Wanderers host the Prince Edward Island Privateers (2-4) today at 3 p.m. at Millidgeville Field while UNBSJ entertains Dartmouth at 6 p.m. at the Rothesay Turf field, also today.

Sunday, the Longhorns host the 2-4 Capital Area Gladiators at 4 p.m. in Millidgeville.

The regular season ends with games July 25-26.

The top four teams will compete in the AAA playoffs while the fifth through eighth finishers will vie for the AA crown.

The AAA and AA semifinals take place Aug 2-3 and the respective finals go the following weekend.