EDMONTON WILDCATS 55
EDMONTON HUSKIES 18 AUGUST 18 CLARKE PARK
The season’s 2nd week started with the 1st “Battle of Edmonton” pitting a Wildcats side that opened their season with an impressive 34-20 road win in Winnipeg against a Huskies club that was in a defensive duel for 2-and-a-half quarters before falling 23-7 in Regina. And the “Battle”nickname rang true early on as Wildcats defensive lineman Nathan Gardiner was ejected for rough play.
The Huskies raced out to a quick 10-0 lead in the opening period courtesy of a Trevor Erdmann touchdown dash & Jonathan Heidebrecht field goal, but that lead would be cut down to 3 as tailback Jordan Samoil found the end zone for the 4th time in 2012.
The Cats took the momentum built by the Samoil score & turned it into a 24-point second frame as the rookie back scored his 2nd of 4 majors on the night 1ston a 68-yard dash to daylight. Ideen Samadi, who joined the Cats from the BCFC’s Vancouver Island Raiders connected on a 43-yard field goal. Veteran pivot Jordan Olson fired a touchdown strike to slotback Brad Quirtel to make it a 24-10 game. The score was set up courtesy of Adam Laurensse’s 3rd interception of the season. The “Samoil Show” continued as he would tally his 3rd major of the half. Laurensse would record his 2nd swipe of the night putting the Cats in prime position for another score, but the Huskies would dodge a huge bullet as they recovered a Wildcat fumble inside their 10.
Samoil would get his 4th score of the night in the 3rd quarter and the Huskies would reply with a safety to make it 38-12 Wildcats after 3.
The visitors would rack up 17 points in the final 15 minutes while the Huskies scored 6 to make the final 55-18.
Samoil would run for 309 yards on the evening and his 4 scores upped his total to 7 on the season.
The 2-0 Wildcats host the Calgary Colts in Week 3 play, while the 0-2 Huskies head to Saskatoon to square off against the defending national champion Hilltops.
EDM WILDCATS 7 24 7 17-55
EDM HUSKIES 10 0 2 6-18
FIRST QUARTER
HUSKIES-TD Erdmann 8 run (Heidebrecht Convert)
HUSKIES-FG Heidebrecht
WILDCATS-TD Samoil 4 run (Samadi Convert)
SECOND QUARTER
WILDCATS-TD Samoil 68 run (Samadi Convert)
WILDCATS-FG Samadi 43
WILDCATS-TD Quirtel 15 pass from Olson (Samadi Convert)
WILDCATS-TD Samoil 10 run (Samadi Convert)
THIRD QUARTER
WILDCATS-TD Samoil 60 (Samadi Convert)
HUSKIES-Safety
FOURTH QUARTER
WILDCATS-TD Waters
WILDCATS-TD Hawryeliak
WILDCATS-FG Samadi
HUSKIES-FG Heidebrecht
Huskies-FG Heidebrecht
YARDSTICKS EW EH
YDS RUSH 452 23
YDS PASS 106 362
NET OFF 547 385
PASSING C A YDS TD INT
OLSON EW 9 17 106 1 0
ERDMANN EH 19 35 261 0 3
RUSHING C YDS TD
SAMOIL EW 24 309 4
HAWRYLIAK EW 14 100 1
SARGENT EH 11 52 0
RECEIVING C YDS TD
SARGENT EH 6 66 0
SCHWAB EH 3 59 0
DEFENSE:
LAURENSSE EW 3 INT
SASKATOON HILLTOPS 35
WINNIPEG RIFLES 20 AUGUST 19 CANAD INNS STADIUM
A pair of winless squads locked horns on Sunday at Canad Inns Stadium as the Winnipeg Rifles welcomed the defending national champions Saskatoon Hilltops. And mistakes would tell the tale on this day as the Hilltops upended the Rifles 35-20.
The visitors would open up the scoring 2:27 into proceedings as Hilltops punt returner Lane Bannerman would take the Brad Mikoluff punt & take it 65 yards for the game’s 1st touchdown courtesy of a special teams breakdown. Late in the period, Josh Ryan attempted to return a Zach Schmidt missed field goal out of the end zone, but took a wicked hit from veteran linebacker Brett Pisio. Adam Morrison pounced on it to make it a 14-0 Saskatoon lead.
Unlike last week, the Rifles offense under pivot John Kiesman had some success moving the ball as Martin Hovi kept drives alive in the opening half. But the Hilltops held Winnipeg at bay until the final minute of the half as Mikoluff connected on a 26-yard attempt. Kiesman completed 6 of 14 passes for 91 yards in the opening 30 minutes.
Mistakes hurt the Rifles as mentioned throughout the day. An Andrew Kleinsasser interception in the second quarter was nullified by a roughing the passer call. In addition, lapses allowed the Hilltops pivots to complete spot open receivers and pick up huge gains.
In the second half, like last Sunday’s contest against the Wildcats, the defense would stay on the field for most of the second half and the Hilltops trio of tailbacks in Andre Lalonde, Brendon Gryba and Wayndel Lewis, who saw action in the 4th quarter, simply wore down the Rifles defense, who to their credit, kept the home side in it for much of the day. The three would combine for 242 of Saskatoon’s 249 yards along the ground
Mikoluff added his second field goal of the day from 30 yards out to cut the Saskatoon lead to 11 with under 4 minutes left in the third. A little over 90 seconds later, Gryba, who ran for 85 yards on the day, rambled 10 yards for the score that put it out of reach once and for all at 24-6.
Schmidt would shank a 28-yard field goal try and the resulting single made it 25-6 early in the 4th. Backup pivot Matt Harder, who came on for an ineffective Karpinka in the second half, fired a touchdown toss to slotback Kyle McGinnis to make it 32-6.
Kiesman would engineer a pair of touchdown drives in the final 15 minutes. Brett Carter, who had a phenomenal game with 11 catches for 158 yards, reeled in a 15-yard pass from Kiesman with a little over 5 minutes remaining. Devin Cox barged in from a yard out with 65 seconds left to round out the scoring.
Kiesman finished the day 16 of 34 for 197 yards with 1 touchdown & 1 interception. Tailback Martin Hovi who ran for 183 yards a week ago was held to 63.
When asked about Kiesman’s performance, Head Coach Greg Graceffo said “John is still learning the game at this level and there were fewer mistakes, but overall it still isn’t where it needs to be for us to be successful.”
Graceffo said his team “gave a full effort” and his defense played absolutely stellar but the mistakes were a killer. He did say his team “would be rewarded if we stop hurting ourselves”. “The unnecessary roughness penalty off of a turnover that leads to 3 points at a point when the game was relatively close hurt as well.” “We had a mistake on a punt return and a mistake on a missed field goal that cost us 14 points.” “Those are things you want to clean up & mistakes you don’t want to make.”
Defensive Lineman Taylor Abolade recorded the Rifles only interception early in the third frame. Brooks Falloon had 6 tackles on the day. Linebacker Braden Vankoughnett (son of former Blue Bomber Dave) had 4 solo tackles as well as a special teams stop.
The Rifles hit the road next weekend to take on the Regina Thunder as they begin a 3-game trip. The Thunder lost a 52-35 shootout in Calgary and head into the season’s third week at 1-1. The Rifles next home action is September 23rd when the Calgary Colts come calling.
SUMMARY
SASK (1-1) 14 3 7 11-35
WPG (0-2) 0 3 3 14-20
FIRST QUARTER
SASK-TD Bannerman 65 punt return (Schmidt Convert) 2:27
SASK-TD Morrison MFG fumble recovery in end zone (Schmidt Convert) 11:20
SECOND QUARTER
WPG-FG Mikoluff 26 14:03
SASK-FG Schmidt 36 15:00
THIRD QUARTER
WPG-FG Mikoluff 30 11:09
SASK-TD Gryba 10 run (Schmidt Convert) 12:55
FOURTH QUARTER
SASK-SG Schmidt 41 1:06
SASK-TD McGinnis 4 pass from Harder (Schmidt Convert)5:45
WPG-TD Carter 15 pass from Kiesman (Mikoluff Convert) 9:24
SASK-FG Schmidt 42 12:47
WPG-TD Cox 1 run (Mikoluff Convert) 13:55
YARDSTICKS
SASK WPG
1ST DOWNS 25 20
YDS RUSH 249 135
YDS REC 241 197
NET OFF 481 313
PASSING C A YDS TD INT
Harder SASK 8 11 104 1 0
Karpinka SASK 10 18 137 0 1
Kiesman WPG 15 34 197 1 1
RUSHING
C YDS TD
Lalonde SASK 9 90 0
Lewis SASK 7 87 0
Gryba SASK 12 65 1
KarpinkaSASK 1 4 0
Shockey SASK 1 2 0
Harder SASK 1 1 0
Hovi WPG 15 63 0
Kiesman WPG 9 52 0
Sesay WPG 3 12 0
Cox WPG 3 8 1
RECEIVING C YDS TD
Mcginnis SASK 6 79 1
Trumpy SASK 4 72 0
Unruh SASK 4 38 0
Braun SASK 2 34 0
Bannerman SASK 1 11 0
Young SASK 1 7 0
Carter WPG 11 160 1
Cox WPG 1 11 0
Okamura WPG 1 11 0
Hovi WPG 1 10 0
Banares WPG 1 5 0
CALGARY COLTS 52
REGINA THUNDER 35 AUGUST 19 MCMAHON STADIUM
The final game on the second week docket was a rematch from last October’s semi-final matchup at McMahon Stadium. And it would be a true Wild West shootout.
Landon Bessel was a surprise starter at pivot for the Thunder and his mates would give him an early 8-point edge to work with courtesy of a 38-yard Ben Koot punt single and a 67-yard interception return for a touchdown by Landon Walter.
The Colts replied quickly as Marshall Broom was good on a 25-yard field goal. But the Thunder would up their lead to 15-3 as a pass interference call put Regina on the Calgary 2. 2 plays later, Bessel found Clay Cooke on 3rd down to put the guests up 15-3 after 15.
The Colts grabbed their first 6-pointer of the day as tailback Chucks Okafor carried the mail in from 2 yards out to draw Calgary to within 5 with 6:21 left in the half. Then it was time to light the offensive fireworks as Clay Cooke scored his 2nd major of the day less than a minute later.
Okafor took a pitch nearly 2 minutes later and raced 38 yards to once again cut the Thunder lead down to 5. Bessel would be intercepted shortly after and from there the Colts took their 1st lead of the day as backup signal-caller Jeremy Long scored on a 1-yard run to put the home side up by 2. Not to be outdone, the Thunder had the last shot of the half and made it count as Koot was good from 28 yards out with zeroes on the clock to put Regina up 25-24 at halftime.
The Colts would drive down deep into Regina territory early in the 3rd, but a 20-yard field goal try rattled off the post to keep it a 1-point contest.
Bessel would suffer a calf injury and Kyle Siemens would be called upon again to guide the offense. And Siemens would build on the lead as he would find Cooke for a 33-yard connection for Cooke’s 3rd score of the afternoon to make it a 32-24 game 8 minutes into the period. That would be the score heading for home.
The Colts appeared to find the end zone as Derek Cooper connected with Matt Lamoureux but a penalty wiped it out. On the next play, Cooper found Lamoureux for a 6-pointer that stood on a 27-yard pass nearly 2 minutes into the final frame. The Broom convert made it a 1-point game.
Calgary would take the lead for good as Steven Dereniwski intercepted a Siemens pass and ran it back 62 yards to make it a 38-32 game. A Koot field goal would cut the Colt lead down to 3, but the Colts would put the wraps on the win with a pair of late majors to go to 2-0 on the season.
The teams would combine for nearly 1,000 yards of offense as Calgary outgained the Thunder by a 519-438 margin.
The Colts head to Clarke Park to battle the Wildcats for top spot in the conference, while the Thunder head home to Mosaic Stadium to welcome the 0-2 Winnipeg Rifles in Week 3 play.
REGINA 15 10 7 3-35
CALGARY 3 21 0 28-52
FIRST QUARTER
REG-SG Koot 38
REG-TD Walter 67 Int return (Koot Convert)
CGY-FG Broom 25
REG-TD Cooke 1 pass from Bessel (Koot Convert)
SECOND QUARTER
CGY-TD Okafor 2 run (Broom Convert)
CGY-TD Okafor 38 run (Broom Convert)
REG-TD Cooke 2 pass from Bessel (Koot Convert)
CGY-TD Long 1 run (Broom Convert)
REG-FG Koot 28
THIRD QUARTER
REG-TD Cooke 33 pass from Siemens (Koot Convert)
FOURTH QUARTER
CGY-TD Lamoureux 27 pass from Cooper (Broom Convert)
CGY-TD Dereniwski 64INT return (Broom Convert)
REG-FG Koot
CGY-TD Whetton run (Broom Convert)
CGY-TD Whetton 5 run (Broom Convert)
Advocating for football prospects one story at a time.
