Clan turn their attention to home opener following scrimmage

Burnaby, BC – Starting the final week of fall camp, the Simon Fraser Clan football team completed their team scrimmage Monday evening, giving the coaching staff their first live look at the team in a game like situations.

Head coach Jacques Chapdelaine, who also acts as offensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator Abe Elimimian ran a tightly scripted hour long scrimmage to allow everyone to take part and be put in game like situations.

“There was some production on both sides (of the ball),” Chapdelaine said. “My experience with these types of scrimmages is you usually get a whole lot of nothing from the offence, but there were some very productive plays.”

Receivers Lemar Durant (Coquitlam, BC) and Earl Anderson (Courtice, ON) both had touchdown receptions showing off their elusiveness, while running back Stephen Spagnuolo (Vancouver, BC) had a hardnosed run between the tackles near the goal line for the major.

All four quarterbacks saw time behind centre as Ryan Stanford (Phoenix, AZ) went first, followed by Tyler Nickel (Calgary, AB) who threw a short pass to Durant who was able to weave his way through the defence for the touchdown. 

Mitchell Rushton (Delta, BC) was next to see action, followed by freshman Derrick Becker (Olympia, WA) who threw a touchdown to Anderson.

On defence, the first team unit had a strong performance following the trend of the past two weeks as demonstrated in camp.

“The first group played well and made some plays out there as expected,” Elimimian said. “We’ve got to clean up some little things, but we did get a takeaway which we stressed.”

Defensive end Keenan North (Bellingham, WA) had a sack, as did middle linebacker Jordan Herdman (Winnipeg, MB) with the first unit. Defensive tackle/end Kristian Lawrence (Ottawa, ON) also had a sack later in the scrimmage, while fellow tackle Quinn Horton (Winnipeg, MB) got into the backfield for a tackle-for-a-loss.

Safety Jake Oram (Richland, WA) had an interception and returned it almost 90-yards falling just short of the end zone.

With the attention being turned to the home opener against the Menlo Oaks on September 6 at Swangard Stadium at 12:00 p.m., Elimimian is happy where the defence is headed.

“We always stress physicality, mental assignments, running to the ball and tackling,” he said. “If we get those four things down we’ll be fine.”

After going two weeks of installing the offence and defence, Chapdelaine is pleased to be turning the team’s attention to week one following the scrimmage that set the team in the right direction.

KUDABA TO ATTEND HOME OPENER WITH 1974 CLAN

Tom Kudaba was an offensive lineman for the Simon Fraser Clan football program from 1973-75.

Currently the co-head coach of the Terry Fox High School Football team in Port Coquitlam where he also teaches Social Studies, he was recruited to SFU out of Cathedral High School in Hamilton, ON. 

During his time playing for the Clan, Kudaba was named to several NAIA All-District teams as well as several All-Pacific Northwest teams as a standout on the offensive line. 

A gifted student–athlete, Tom also earned two degrees while studying at SFU before being drafted into the CFL. 

Kudaba played for the BC Lions for several years before hanging up his cleats to become a full-time teacher. 

His most memorable coaching moment, as he remembers it to be, was winning the 2007-08 championship. 

Kudaba is an exceptional teacher, coach, person, and a vital member of the football scene in British Columbia.

Photo credit:  Ron Hole