Maritime Football League
2009 Game Summaries

Week 10: August 1-2 "Semi-Finals"

By Jamie Ross
Published in the Times-Transcript on Monday August 3, 2009
Appeared on Page B1

Running back Shea Lenehan continued his playoff assault in the Maritime Football League yesterday, scoring all four Mustang touchdowns as Riverview topped the Saint John Wanderers 28-17 in league semifinal action.

The Mustangs now look to make it three straight MFL championships as they move on to play the Halifax Shockers in the league finals scheduled for this Saturday at Dobson Field in Riverview.

"We've been undefeated for as long as I can remember," said Lenehan, 21. "But Halifax won't be the same team we saw earlier in the season. It's 12 on 12 out there, and anything can happen."

The Mustangs win yesterday came as a result of a relentless running game, led by none other than Lenehan, who has now tallied nine touchdowns in his past two playoff appearances.

Matt Archibald kicked an extra point on all Mustang touchdowns.

The Mustangs got up early in yesterday's the contest, with Lenehan capping off a Mustang drive with a five-yard TD run.

The Wanderers responded on their next possession with a field goal for three points from the foot on Doug Mcphee, capping off a drive that saw quaterback Trevor Harrison hook up with receiver Dan Smith for a 40-yard pass.

Lenehan notched his second TD of the game early in the second quarter, making it 14-3 at half time.

It looked like the Mustangs would run away with it in the third quarter, as Lenehan cashed in with a 5-yard TD rush, and then added another early in the fourth, making it a 28-3 game.

But the Wanderers battled back with a touchdown of their own, cutting the lead to 28-9 in the dying minutes of the fourth quarter.

After forcing the Mustangs to punt, Saint John marched down the field and narrowed the lead to 11 on a John Haines TD run, followed by a Charlie Harroun dash for a two-point conversion.

Wanderers head coach Dave Grandy said despite having a rocky start to the season, his team a long way since then, and he's pleased with their improvement.

"We had some guys decided they weren't going to come back and play this year," he said. "A lot of guys decided they wouldn't come back. We lost eight guys from our starting offence.

Grandy said the Wanderers' short bench took its toll on the team on such a hot day.

"The small bench played huge havoc out there today, in the heat," Grandy said. "We were down to 17 or 18 players, and when it's a physical game against a big, physical team like this one, it takes its toll on you."

The undefeated Mustangs now prepare to face the Shockers in the MFL title game.

When the teams last met in Week 3, Riverview came out on top 28-14.

"I'm excited at going for our third crack at the finals," said Mustangs head coach Rob Weir. "Our guys are working all of the time to get better, so we're looking forward to a tough game against Halifax, and coming out on top."

By Robert Touchie
Published in the Daily Gleaner on Monday August 3, 2009
Appeared on Page B1

It didn't end the way they intended, but for members of the Capital Area DQ Gladiators, they figure it's something they can build on.

The Gladiators were handily defeated 41-19 by the Halifax Shockers Saturday night in front of about 200 fans at Chapman Field in one of two Maritime Senior Football League semifinals played on the weekend.

The other semifinal played yesterday in Riverview saw two-time defending champion Riverview Mustangs defeat Saint John Wanderers 28-17.

Mustangs will now host the Shockers Saturday at Dobson Field in Riverview to in their attempt to win a third straight league title.

At Chapman Field, the Gladiators proved to be their own worst enemy against Halifax by throwing seven interceptions, having no answer to the Shockers' version of the "Wildcat" and trying a highly questionable play call with nine and a half minutes remaining in regulation time.

"You just simply can't expect to win giving the ball away seven times," said player-coach Jeff Taylor, who also runs the offence for the team. "I'd say that 30 of their points came as a direct result of the turnovers."

The Gladiators actually opened the scoring midway through the first half on an eight-yard touchdown pass from Brendan Cornford to Alden Pezerovic, just two plays after Andrew Hubbard outmuscled a Halifax defender to come down with a 45-yard Cornford pass. That put the Gladiators inside the Shockers 10-yard line.

Hubbard would end up with 55 yards receiving, including one touchdown, to go along with 165 yards on six punt and kickoff returns, most of which were of the electrifying variety.

"Andrew Hubbard was one of the best players on the field tonight, as per usual," said Gladiators player-coach Jamie Edwards. "Hubby showed everyone tonight why people should be excited for the future of this program."

The Shockers were not able to make much forward progress against the Gladiators in a first half clearly controlled by the Capital Area side. The Shockers, however, were given an opportunity to gain some momentum on a Cornford interception with just under two minutes to play in the half.

The Shockers made him pay, tying the score at seven on a one-yard, fourth-down Chris Livingston pass to A.J. Tufford with only 17 seconds left before halftime.

"That play broke our back heading into the half," said Gladiator defensive back Bobby McIntyre.

The brief two-minute sequence seemed to change the course of the game entirely, with neither of the two teams coming out in the second half resembling the ones playing in the first.

Halifax quickly established the run through their own version of the "Wildcat" formation, something that the Gladiators had trouble making adjustments to.

"They seemed to run that Wildcat formation more often in the second half and we just weren't making good adjustments to it," said player-coach Jamie Edwards, who acts as defensive coordinator for the Gladiators. "And with the turnovers, it was difficult to get any continuity going out there on either side of the ball."

"At half, we made our adjustments and put in more "wildcat" running plays and showed why all our hard work over the last six months paid off," said Halifax head coach Blair Ryan. "Also, the Gladiators going for an onside kick with ten minutes left in the game and only being behind 24-13 effectively ended the game."

Ryan was making reference to a questionable play-call by the Gladiators with just under 10 minutes remaining and down by 11 points. Gladiators tried the onside attempt on their own 40-yard line after backup QB Jeff Taylor had entered the game for an injured Cornford and drove the Gladiators 40 yards to a TD in three quick plays, and appeared to turn the momentum in their favor.

"That was a call that was made on the spur of the moment and if we could, we'd probably do it different," said Taylor. "I think it definitely impacted the outcome of the game, but throwing two interceptions on our first two second-half possessions sure didn't help either."

The failure of the onside attempt more importantly killed valuable time off the clock and allowed the Shockers to kick a field goal making the score 27-13. That put more pressure on the Gladiators to score quickly.

Given the ball back with just five minutes left, Taylor ended up hitting Hubbard, who bobbled a well-placed pass while trying to get himself out of bounds to stop the clock. Later in the series, Taylor tried to force a ball into a crowd to hit Erik Watson and was picked off by Cross Bentley with just 3:40 left on the clock.

"To me, that ended the game and it was totally my fault," said Taylor, of the interception that Halifax used to score another TD and burn off more valuable clock time. "I knew the moment my arm was moving forward it wasn't good, but we had to score on that possession."

It was certainly not the way the Gladiators wanted to end their season but Taylor, for one, is looking at the glass as being half full, not half empty..

"Looking back on this season as a whole, we won the conference and the league semifinal with a very young roster," said Taylor. "Given that this team was 1-7 just four years ago, I think we're poised for big things in the future."

In the Mariner Cup semifinals (tier AA), it was P.E.I. Privateers defeating Saint John Longhorns 34-25 and the Dartmouth Knights hammering Moncton Marshals 51-0. P.E.I. will host Dartmouth on Saturday.

When star running back Steve Cormier suffered a serious injury in just the second game of the Maritime Football League regular season, it could have had a devastating impact on the Riverview Mustangs.

But it didn't. Shea Lenehan has made sure of that.

Lenehan has played running back his entire football career; he was a standout with the Riverview High Royals and is a backup with the St. Francis Xavier X-Men.

He joined the Mustangs this summer to play slotback, to work on his catching skills, but every thing changed when Cormier was injured.

Lenehan took over the top job in the backfield and Riverview hasn't missed a beat since. The 21-year-old scored five touchdowns in the Mustangs' 56-13 quarter-final win over the P.E.I. Privateers last Saturday.

Riverview head coach Rob Weir has called Lenehan the best running back in the league this season.

"I've been playing running back my whole life and I knew that when Steve went down that I had to step up for the team," said Lenehan, who played half a season with the Mustangs in 2007. "You never want to see someone get injured and Steve is a great running back and his are big shoes to fill, but I don't mind stepping in and running again."

Lenehan and the Mustangs host the Saint John Wanderers in a semifinal tomorrow at 4 p.m. at Dobson Field. The winner advances to Maritime Bowl championship game next Saturday. Riverview has won the league championship in each of the past two seasons.

In the other semifinal, the Capital Area Gladiators entertain the Halifax Shockers tonight in Fredericton.

Weir and Lenehan go back together to their Riverview High days when Lenehan was a high school all-star and conference co-offensive player of the year in 2005. Still, the coach says he's never seen Lenehan run better than he has this season with the Mustangs.

"He's running powerfully, his head is up, his eyes are open and he's really low to the ground. He's very hard to tackle and he's crushing guys that are trying to tackle him," Weir said. "Shea has always been a good football player, but he's really matured and stepped up this summer."

Lenehan agrees and says the past three seasons with St. FX in the Atlantic University Sport football conference has helped his game.

Tomorrow's battle with the Wanderers will be the latest in a long rivalry between the clubs. Riverview defeated Saint John 21-13 in last year's league final, but the Wanderers beat the Mustangs in semifinals en route to their own championships in 2005 and 2006. Meanwhile, the Moncton Marshals visit the Dartmouth Knights today at 4 p.m. in a consolation semifinal.

By Robert Touchie
Published in the Daily Gleaner on Friday July 31, 2009
Appeared on Page B1

They really couldn’t be any more different, and other than the game of football they have very little in common.

Capital Area DQ Gladiators player-coaches Jamie Edwards and Jeff Taylor are the proverbial odd couple. They have, however, clearly been on the same page the last four years in their mission to turn around a then-sinking Gladiator ship and help the Glads win a Maritime Senior Football League title.

That’s something firmly within their reach if they can just get by the 7-1 Halifax Shockers Saturday night at Chapman Field in a Maritime Bowl AAA semifinal.

The Gladiators take a 5-3 record into the 6 p.m. kickoff.

Admission is $2.

“In 2005 Coach (Larry) Wisniewski met with Taylor and I and said, ‘Jamie, you’ve got the ‘D’ and Jeff, you’ve got the ‘O’, make it work,” said Edwards, describing how Wisniewski passed the reins to the two of them, after not having the time any longer to commit to the team. “With Mike Casey handling the head coach role, we managed to get it together, but it hasn’t necessarily been smooth sailing the whole way along.”

Edwards is speaking of a team that was floundering, coming off of a 1-7 season in 2004 and suffering the loss of many veteran players who had moved on to other pursuits for various reasons.

It was daunting, but the ‘odd couple’ made it work.

“I think the biggest thing is in the huddle,” said Edwards, a fiery redhead who checks in at a hulking six-foot and 230 pounds. “We’re just like night and day in there — we’re both thinkers, but I am vocal and very aggressive whereas Jeff is…” Edwards’ sentence is finished by Taylor, like an old married couple.

“I take things in stride,” said Taylor, who at 33 has a body more commensurate with a 20-year-old, tipping the scales at a svelte 175, standing fivefoot- 11. “You could say I am laidback, not a whole lot gets me excited.”

The dichotomy between the two goes beyond temperament, as Taylor, a UNB business and education grad who presently teaches at Chipman Forest Avenue School (grades 6-12), is a person focused on math and science whereas Edwards, a Bishop’s University grad and former Gaitor football team captain, is one who has a propensity for literature and history.

The two have common ground in playing football though … and yes, a love of coaching.

“I’ve never seen anyone scheme like Jamie,” said Taylor, of his counterpart’s football coaching acumen.

“He has a great football mind, he can scheme us up well against any opponent … anyone.”

“The man has hands like glue,” said Edwards of his coaching partner Taylor, who doubles in the fall as the FHS varsity football offensive coordinator.

“And as far as a football mind, especially an offensive one, there is no one I trust as much as I trust Jeff, he’s really smart.”

Wait a second, is this a bromance? Nope.

The praise is legitimate.

Very clearly, the two of them have taken a downtrodden, talent-empty organization at the edge of folding and, along with Coach Casey, in four years have built a solid foundation that seems poised to be a Maritime Football League power for years to come.

The core of the team is still very young, averaging 23 years of age on their 25- man roster.

“We have 25 men committed now,” said Edwards.

“We started the year with over 40, but really we’ve got who we need and want now — we have ‘the committed’… we’ve never been as solid as a football organization as we are right now.”

Edwards might not be overplaying his hand, as the Gladiators recently had 19 all-stars named to the Maritime League’s all-star game to be played Saturday, Aug. 15 at UPEI, a stat not to be sniffed at.

Edwards and Taylor lead the way in the award parade, with each being nominated as the top player at their respective positions — Edwards as the league’s top defensive lineman and Taylor as the circuit’s top wide receiver.

“Halifax, I think has an idea they are going to come in here and run the table,” said the 29-yearold Edwards, speaking of a Halifax team that spanked the Glads in Halifax 39- 13 earlier in the season.

“They are good, but there is more to that game than I will get into … I will say that we have some wrinkles ready to unveil and we will be pulling out all the stops this time.”

Edwards was clearly avoiding discussing the July 4 match marred by controversial calls and ejections to Gladiatior stalwarts Bruce Canning and Tyler Doak, in which the fireworks from an American holiday seemed to settle into the Halifax harbour and find an emotional and combative home in Huskie Stadium.

“I don’t want to get into that game too much,” said Edwards. “I might get myself into trouble, but I will say we have had good practices and we are just very well-calibrated as a unit right now.”

In an angrily contested and heated affair, marred by controversial calls from the referees, the Gladiators came out on the short end of the stick, despite being only behind by a modest 10-7 count at half.

Taylor, for one, doesn’t see the Shockers relenting much this time around.

“They bring a lot of pressure,” said Taylor. “So really a lot rides on how much time our O-Line is able to give to our offensive weapons (citing quarterback Brendan Cornford, running backs Tommy Broad and Josh MacArthur as well as wideout Andrew Hubbard — a man Taylor says could be ‘the league MVP’)…and actually, Saturday night we’ll basically live and die on how our OLine does.”