After this past week’s action in the Nova Scotia Varsity Football League (NSVFL), one thing is clear. The Metro Mustangs are emerging as the team to beat in the league.
While they finally did surrender some points on Friday evening, the Mustangs came away with another impressive win over the Team Nova Scotia under-16 team. Meanwhile in the earlier game, the Halifax Seahawks suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of the Timberlea Renegades. A second half rally by the Renegades coupled by Seahawks miscues determined the outcome of the game. It was a bye week for the Dartmouth Destroyers.
Here are the complete results for Week 3 action:
Timberlea Renegades 36, Halifax Seahawks 21:
Friday evening at Huskies Stadium in Halifax, the Timberlea Renegades overcame a deficit in the first half of the game to win over the Halifax Seahawks.
On the first play of the second quarter, the Renegades scored on the first play after getting all the way to the Seahawks five yard line on the previous drive.
“Following a Halifax score, the Renegades marched 80 yards on a combination of key runs by David Nisbet and completions by quarterback Lorenz MacDonald,” adds Renegades assistant coach Mark Chiasson. “The Renegades offensive line turned in a strong effort that enabled the Renegades to end the first half with Brian Leader kicking a 27 yard field goal.”
Holding onto the lead going into the second half, the Seahawks did surrender some important plays which costed them the game.
“The Renegades made some adjustments and really put the pressure on us, we were ready,” explains Seahawks co-head coach Jon Dyer.
A pivotal moment in the half was when the Seahawks went to punt the ball from their own line. The Renegades’ Drew Packman blocked the punt enabling Nick Bennett to recover the fumble and score a major in the process.
Another crucial mistake by the Seahawks in the latter part of the game resulted in the Renegades’ defense intercepting the ball and running it into the end zone to seal the victory.
“It was a fierce battle in the second half, and it was the Renegades’ defense that turned it up a notch by stopping the Halifax offense on consecutive drives,” adds Chiasson in his postgame comments.
Offensively for the Renegades, David Nisbet led the way with 13 carries for 122 yards and two touchdowns. Lorenz MacDonald had five completions on 12 attempts and one passing touchdown, while also mustering up 31 receiving yards in five carries and one touchdown. Hayden Clarke chipped in with 31 yards on three carries and 36 yards on two receptions in the game.
However, the defense had a great day on the field. The unit was led by Nate Rostek who amassed 10 tackles and also scored a major on an interception. Ahmed Ramadan chipped in with six tackles while Jack Chiasson added five.
With the win, the Renegades are now 1-1 while the Seahawks are also 1-1 with the loss.
While the Renegades were happy to pull out the win, they will try to shore up areas of their overall game.
“The coaching staff was pleased with the playersβ efforts in this early season matchup, and is looking to further improve the execution on both sides of the ball that will lead to more consistency as the season progresses,” comments the Renegades assistant coach.
As for the Seahawks, receiver Drew MacIsaac amassed 65 receiving yards and scored two touchdowns in the game. Additionally,Thomas Hatfield had 50 receiving yards and also scored a major. Quarterback Byron Kavanagh had nine completions on 20 attempts and three touchdown passes in the game.
“It was a tough game for us,” summarizes Dyer in his postgame assessment. “The Renegades kept battling and ultimately forced us into mistakes and capitalized on their opportunities.”
“We can’t expect to win games making the mistakes we made. Overall, our execution was really poor and missed opportunities are what cost us the victory.”
While MacIsaac made some significant plays in the beginning of the game for the Seahawks, offensive miscues hurt the team.
“We had a lot of miscues on offense that put a lot of pressure on our quarterback and running backs,” explains the Seahawks co-head coach. “We have to tighten everything up and eliminate our mental mistakes; we won’t win too many games this year if we come out and play that inconsistently over the course of the game.”
Defensively, Shaun Robinson was continually strong throughout the game making tackles all over the field while trying to wreak havoc on the Renegades pocket. However, it could not compensate for the shortcomings of the Seahawks special teams unit.
“Our defense came out and played a great second half but we put them in some tough spots with turnovers,” comments Dyer. “Once again, holes on our special teams really cost us some big plays.”
Dyer gives props to their opponents for a strong outing on Friday, which has in turn fuelled the Seahawks to go back to the drawing board to prepare themselves for their next encounter against the Renegades.
“The Renegades did a great job exposing many of our weaknesses and we are going to have to make some adjustments the next time we play them,” says the Seahawks co-head coach. “They are a solid team all the way through and we can’t afford to turn the ball over and miss our chances if we expect to win.”
Now, the focus turns to their opponents next week, the Dartmouth Destroyers.
“We have a big game against Dartmouth next week,” explains Dyer. “I know they are big and have some good athletes; we’re going to need to get right back to work so that we can build from this loss.”
“This is a long season.”
The Renegades will carry the momentum of this win into their game next week against Team Nova Scotia under-16 squad on Friday May 4th at Saint Mary’s Huskies Stadium. Game time is 8:30pm. Meanwhile, the Halifax Seahawks will dust themselves off from this loss and strive to get back into the win column in their game against the Dartmouth Destroyers. The game is slated for Friday May 4th at Saint Mary’s Huskies Stadium. Game time is 6:00pm.
Metro Mustangs 43, Team Nova Scotia under-16, 8:
In the Friday night game at Huskies Stadium, the Mustangs led 13-7 at the half and never looked back in their game against the Team Nova Scotia under-16 squad. This was in spite of the Mustangs giving up their first points against to an opponent this season.
Offensively for the Mustangs, Running back Dustin Brogaard led the charge for the Mustangs with 165 yards on 26 carries and one four yard reception. Quarterback Sean Muir had seven completions on 10 attempts and 71 passing yards while he also racked up 19 yards on two carries. Running back Drew Alexander had one eight yard touchdown reception and also had 16 yards on three carries.
Taylor MacDonald was in on 11 of the Mustangs overall point totals as he carried the ball for a six yard touchdown and also was good on five one point conversions. Receiver Alex Bayne chipped in with eight yards on three carries while scoring a major. Also during the game, Bayne had two receptions for 25 yards. Receiver Ryan Keays had three receptions for 35 total yards and scored a touchdown. He also had one carry for 10 yards.
Defensively for the victors, four safeties accounted for eight of the teams overall point totals. Matt Bayne also blocked a punt while Jesse Boudreau recovered a punt block in the end zone for a score.
With the win, the Mustangs are alone atop the Nova Scotia Varsity Football League (NSVFL) standings with a 3-0 record. On the other hand, Team Nova Scotia now has a 1-2 record as a result of the loss.
Mustangs head coach Greg Bayne says the team was sluggish in the first quarter but as the game went along, they were able to regain composure which equated to success.
“We came out of the gate ok and then fell asleep in the second quarter and gave up a big play with poor punt coverage which allowed them to put some points on the board,” explains Bayne in his postgame assessment. “We had a talk at halftime; some of our vocal leaders pulled the group together and we came out in the third quarter and put 21 points on the board.”
“The lead then gave us the opportunity to play our bench and make sure our less experienced players received more game time.”
In particular, the Mustangs head coach was impressed by the play of the defensive unit.
“The defensive pressure was big amounting to four safeties and a blocked punt that was recovered for a touchdown,” comments Bayne. “Our defensive line and linebackers played extremely well with Jesse Boudreau getting two sacks, James Pelley, Taylor MacDonald, Matt Bayne with safeties and tackles for losses and a blocked punt.”
“Really, we could not have asked for more out of the defense.”
Things have gone well for the Mustangs in their first three games; however, Bayne says there is one area that needs improvement.
“We had some pretty disappointing penalties which are mental errors that we can talk about and cleanup for our next game,” adds Bayne.
Meanwhile in his postgame assessment, Team Nova Scotia head coach Chris Valardo says the second half is when the outcome of the game was determined.
“It was an excellent game till the second half when our offensive line could not handle the constant pressure from the Metro defense and Dustin Brogaard had an exceptional night at running back for Metro,” explains Valardo. “Nova Scotia defence played exceptionally well, but simply wore down to the bigger, older Mustangs.”
Pivot Cameron Valardo threw a touchdown pass to Jared Melnyk on the last play of the first half to get Team Nova Scotia within six points of the Mustangs. Kicker Greg Hutchins was good in a conversion attempt; however, he missed a field goal attempt.
While he gives credit to the Mustangs in winning the game, Valardo says this was a great experience for the Team Nova Scotia squad.
“Another tough night for our kids but they’re young and this is all a learning experience for them,” comments Valardo. “Playing older teams that are bigger and faster is a great way for our 14 and 15 year olds to play at a higher level and get use to a faster game.”
“Metro’s players played hard and clean and certainly deserved the win.”
Team Nova Scotia will try to get back to the win column in their game next week against the Timberlea Renegades. The game is set for Friday May 11th at Saint Mary’s Huskies Stadium. Game time is 8:30pm. As for the Metro Mustangs, they are on a bye this upcoming week.
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