NS: Citadel Phoenix Coaches Reflect on Four Peat

“This Championship was truly special.”

The sentiment of Citadel Phoenix co-head coach Jeff Lawley after the team won their fourth consecutive Nova Scotia Student Athletic Federation Football League (NSSAFFL) Tier 1 title in Halifax.

“When you consider how many fantastic athletes we graduated from last year’s team, it just becomes a tribute to the players buying in to what our coaches are teaching,” explains Lawley who has been coaching the Phoenix for 22 seasons.

The Phoenix were able to overcome an injury to their top offensive weapon and find cracks in NSSAFFL’s top defensive squad to defeat the Horton Griffins 29-17 at Saint Mary’s University Huskies Stadium yesterday afternoon.

For 41 seasons, Mike Tanner has been coaching the Queen Elizabeth and Citadel Phoenix Football programs. The co-head coach of the Phoenix comments that each year is an individual separate one; therefore, the four peat comes from a combination of factors.

“The four peat is just a consequence of having great athletes, having a great coaching staff, having kids who are committed, having parents who are supportive and it’s a realization that all the hard work we put in has come to fruition today,” says Tanner.

Reflecting on the game, Tanner gives his overall thoughts of the Phoenix’s play.

“Our kids didn’t play great on offense, our defense was spectacular,” says Tanner. “They (Horton) were a very hard hitting team and they came to play today and we were lucky enough to win today.”

In the second quarter of the game, the Phoenix lost the services of league MVP and top special teams player A’dre Fraser. The receiver was injured on a tackle during a punt return.

“There’s not much you can do when you lose a player like A’dre to injury, just get the next guy in and hope for the best,” adds Lawley.

Tanner says that the offense was affected by the loss of their top offensive weapon; however, they found a way to get the job done.

“Once we lost him, our offensive impetus went down a bit,” explains Tanner. “We got a bit scared but we did score a touchdown then we had to move the ball and it took time off the clock.”

Other Phoenix players needed to step up and fill the void Fraser left behind. With the championship on the line, Tanner says the team responded to the task.

“Other kids stepped up, I mean A’dre being the MVP of the league, he’s a real big factor for us, but the other kids stepped up,” comments Tanner. “We were able to hang on to the ball for long enough so they couldn’t score more touchdowns.”

A player who wasn’t on top of his game yesterday was the league’s top offensive player, quarterback Derek Brown. Tanner believes that Brown played his worst game of the year but managed to pull out the victory.

“He was just off a little bit,” adds Tanner. “He was trying too hard and as a result when you try too hard nothing happens as a positive but he made some plays when he had to and he’s got great confidence in him and in the huddle and kids respond to him and respect him and they’re going to follow him.”

In the second half of the game, the Phoenix defensive unit had to come through and stop a Griffins offense that has been successful in the NSSAFFL regular season. Tanner says the defensive was successful in containing the Griffins offense. Boasting eight all-stars on the unit, Tanner comments that those players continued their “spectacular” play yesterday and gives credit to the coaching staff.

“Coach Lawley and the defensive coaches do a great job scouting the other team,” explains Tanner. “We know their offense as well as the other team knows our offense and it showed today, they scored a lot of points this year and didn’t have a lot to cancel and you know we did a pretty good job on them today.”

Lawley agrees with Tanner about the success of the Phoenix defense in the championship game.

“Our defense saved their best game of the year for this one, Horton is a very physically tough and talented team,” adds Lawley. “Our hat goes off to them, they are a fine squad.”

As for their opponents, the Phoenix has a lot of respect for the Griffins and what they achieved this season. Like Lawley, Tanner notes how physical the Griffins were and the impact it had on the Phoenix players.

“Oh they were spectacular today and they came to play like I said they hit hard,” says Tanner. “We had all kinds of guys carried off for this and that, nothing real serious but enough that knicked us up.”

The Phoenix knew they were not going to be handed another title but would have to battle on the field against a very tough opponent Griffins squad. These two teams never played against one another during the NSSAFFL regular season.

“We knew we were going to be in a battle when the game started because of their reputation and the fact they played some of the teams we had played and beaten them pretty badly so we didn’t know what to expect,” explains Tanner. “But we knew our defense was going to play hard because they (Horton) said they wanted to show us what Smashmouth Valley football was but we wanted to show them what Halifax Smashmouth football was all about.”

Yesterday marked the last high school football game for 21 senior players. That is the equivalent of half the Phoenix roster. Among the graduating class are Brown and Fraser.

While they are savouring their fourth championship title, there is no time to rest for the Phoenix. Tanner says planning for the next season starts Monday.