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Nov. 18
Maritime Championship Royals get shot at Maritime grid title
Published Monday November 12th, 2007
Appeared on page C4
Riverview Royals are heading to the Maritime bantam football championship. The Royals blasted the Oromocto Blues 52-0 yesterday to claim the N.B. championship and the right to advance to the Maritime final next Sunday in Dartmouth. Led by quarterback Matt Sears and touchdown efforts from Brett McNeil, Tim Jay and Nico Sokolowski, the Royals were just too much for the Blues. A strong defence was led by Colin Miller and Nick MacEachern. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GUNNING FOR A PROVINCIAL TITLE: The Oromocto Junior Blues will
be in Moncton Sunday looking to win the provincial bantam football
championship against the Riverview Junior Royals. Among the key performers for
Oromocto leading up to the big game are second year quarterback Jesse Rae,
left, and featured running back Joel Toole, shown here in action against the
Hampton Huskies last weekend. Blues beat the Huskies 19-16 in the semifinal
game.
Blues take aim at grid title
By BILL HUNT
hunt.bill@dailygleaner.com
Published Thursday November 8th, 2007
Appeared on page B1
It's not a stunt - unless maybe they happen to be playing on defence. The Oromocto Junior Blues are playing the Riverview Royals for the provincial bantam football championship Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Rocky Stone Field in Moncton. "It's not really a surprise," said head coach Dave Blanchard as he looked back on a season which has seen the Blues go 8-1 on the season -- including seven straight victories -- leading to Sunday's title tilt. "We started training in the second week of August and when we set our goals, we looked to getting to the provincial championship," he said. Here they are, fresh off a dramatic 19-16 win over the Hampton Huskies in the provincial semifinal last weekend after rolling to the Capital Area Minor Football Association crown with a come-from-behind victory over the Leo Hayes Junior Lions the week before. "It means a lot to them," said Blanchard. "You're only 15 years old once. There were 17 teams that started out. Then it got down to five and now there's only two. They're at the edge of achieving what we set out to do. Hopefully we have two more steps to make." Should they triumph on the turf at Rocky Stone Sunday, they'll advance to a Maritime championship game against the Nova Scotia chamnpions the following Sunday in Dartmouth, N.S. But it's already been quite a journey for Blanchard, his coaching staff of offensive co-ordinator Joe Smith, defensive coaches Bruce MacClary and Shane Browne and the 43 players -- including two girls -- in Blues colours. "Preparation is everything," said Blanchard. "The secret to our success has been the buy-in from the athletes. They've stepped up when they needed to." It helps too, that the Blues have been held to less than 20 points only twice this season. Four times, their defence has held opponents to eight or less. Blanchard would rather not tip his hand on what makes the Blues work -- he won't even confirm a starting quarterback until after practice tonight, even though second year veteran Jesse Ray completed nine of 15 passes for 125 yards against Hampton last week. The other option is first-year pivot James Mitchell, who brings a different look. He'll get some time at QB, but he's also a tight end. His older brother Mark is the fullback, sharing time at that spot with Ryan Scott. Joel Toole, a quick little 14-year-old -- just four foot eight and 125 pounds, he covers 40 yards in 4.9 seconds -- is the featured running back. "He and Jesse have been instrumental in our success," said Blanchard. They benefit from playing behind a Blue Wall of an offensive line, featuring six-foot-six inch, 240-pound guard Grayson Young; 230-pound center Jesse Stevens-Campbell and 240-pound Tommy Thompson. Jake MacKenzie and Taylor Rogers are also on the line. They give Ray plenty of time to pick out passing targets Josh Blanchard and the 1-2 punch of Cody Arsenault and Mitchell McCoy. "If one's not open, the other seems to be," said Blanchard. Defensively, the Blues use "a mixed bag of tools," said Blanchard. "We do a lot of stunts on the line, and sometimes we'll play man-to-man on one side of the field and zone on the other." Second year free safety Tyler Gillis is entrusted with calling the defensive signals. Blues are big on defence too -- defensive ends Julien Varty and Justin Sweeney both tip the scales at 210 pounds. Six other players share time on the line as well, including Alex Pinel, Matt Fagan, Ethan Charter, and, when necessary, Young and Campbell over from the offensive line. Linebackers include Lawrence Claridge in the middle, Warren Hickey and Jessie Gauvreau, two first year players, on the outside. Peter Wilde, Xavier Richards and Pat Healey are in the backfield. The key this weekend will be "no mistakes on defence," said Blanchard. Offensively, "we have to use a little more variety," he said. He's confident the Blues have what it takes to win their second bantam
title in five years. He was an assistant coach on the 2003 team coached by
Jeff Murdock.
Nov. 4
New Brunswick Semi-Final |
