Harrison Trimble and Moncton High remain perfect; MacNaughton rebounds; Simonds wins!

Head Coach Guy Messervier said “It’s been a long time since we felt this good around Riverview High.   We’ve always had a lot of very good athletes in Riverview, but for some reason the stars were never aligned for us.” Quarterback Andrew Crawford, a Grade 11 student who switched to quarterback from receiver last year, had ten touchdown passes in the first three games.   Messervier added “Most of our players are in Grade 10 or 11 and we’ve got a lot of weapons, especially on offence.”

Although their defence is improving, they are known as an offensive team.  Therefore, Friday’s game against Moncton High’s strong defence was a great test for the young Riverview crew.

Moncton High improved to 4-0, defeating Riverview High 35-7.   Brett Power scored three running touchdowns for Moncton High, while Matt Dixon and Matt Clements also had running touchdowns.   Jesse LeBlanc converted on all five points after touchdown. Although none of the touchdowns occurred by passing, Kyle Rogers did throw some big yardage gains to Josh Hicks.   It appeared that Riverview High would not get a single point during the game.   However, Nathan Anderson managed to score a touchdown for Riverview High with 19 seconds left, while Stephen Daley was successful on the point after touchdown.

Dwayne Tingley of Times & Transcript said “Moncton High Purple Knights have an offence that controls the ball methodically then strikes rapidly.   However, it’s the quick and punishing defensive unit that’s making them a serious contender.”

After improving to 2-1 after losing 51-21 in their opener, this loss could prove to be beneficial to Riverview High, now 2-2. It may help this young team realize not to let the highs get too high and not to let the lows get too low.

If Moncton High continues to dominate the final three games of the season, they will have gone all season without playing with adversity.   Therefore, their first round opponent will likely be a team that narrowly makes the playoffs.   In that case, Moncton High would almost have to worry about being knocked out in the first round.   On the other hand, Riverview High can look at the next three weeks as if they can manage to make the playoffs, anything is possible.

Harrison Trimble managed to lead Oromocto High 27-20 at half time.   Harrison Trimble certainly proved they knew they’d have to play well in the second half if they wanted to improve to 4-0, as they ended up winning 61-27. Brett Robart, Tyler Pavlovic, and Josh Levesque each had two touchdowns for Harrison Trimble, while Julien Sommerville, Pat MacPherson, and Kris Brine each had one.   Jesse McKay was successful on seven points after touchdown.

Friday (October 5) will see Moncton High and Harrison Trimble meet at 7 p.m. in the annual homecoming game at Rocky Stone Field.   For both teams, more important than the long rivalry is the fact that both teams are 4-0. Both teams will want to improve to 5-0. However, someone has to lose.

It was a surprise for many to see MacNaughton, after winning their first game of the season, lose their next two games, falling to 1-2.   Coach Ed Wasson wasn’t too worried as they had been moving the ball well.   Their main problem was they just weren’t capitalizing in the redzone.  He was optimistic they would soon click and that wins would follow.   They got back to their winning ways, defeating Tantramar 32-0. Friday’s game was the 75th game (regular season and playoffs combined) that Ed coached since becoming coach at the start of the 2004 season. His record is now 60-14-1.  Most importantly, however, would be his five championships.

Tantramar is now 0-4. They’ve been outscored 124-39.   They certainly have areas to improve if they’d like to win a game this season.   Their average margin of loss is 21 points.  Personally, I don’t believe that they used the correct philosophy heading into their game against MacNaughton. Head Coach Scott O’Neal had said “Even though we’re 0-3, we’ve played two 3-0 teams.”

Saint John High managed to improve to 3-1, as they defeated Leo Hayes 34-31.   Leo Hayes has fallen to 1-3. Meanwhile, a pair of 2-1 teams (Fredericton High and Kennebecasis) met.   Both teams wanted to improve to 3-1, not fall to 2-2.   However, Fredericton High appeared hungrier, defeating Kennebecasis 23-4.   Adding to Kennebecasis disapointment would be the fact they were home team.

Simonds has won their first game of the season! In a battle of two winless teams, they defeated St. Malachy’s 27-6.   Quite an improvement for Simonds.   They’ve improved both offensively and defensively each of the first four weeks.   Week 1, they lost 58-0, week 2 they lost 52-0, and week 3 they lost 49-14.   It’s possible that they could be one of those teams that get things together, manages to make the playoffs, and then goes from there.

Friday’s match between Moncton High and Riverview High was the final game of the Future Stars Festival.   MacNaughton and Harrison Trimble were the other two schools involved from this league.   Collecting to tackle the hunger, entrances at the games, and trying to out-chant, out-ramp, and out-stomp the opponent at halftime were all part of the competition.   All participating schools are guaranteed $1000, while the winning school receives $4000, second place receives $3000, and third place receives $2000.

Winners will be announced on October 14 when the Grey Cup 100th Anniversary Train Tour stops in Moncton.   Formerly known simply as the Spirit Award, it was renamed “Ian Fowler School Spirit Cup.”  Ian passed away in November of last year.   As General Manager of Moncton’s Economic Development, Culture, and Tourism, he turned the inaugural CFL match in late September two years ago into Future Stars Festival, which lasts nearly a week. It has become so popular the past two years that the festivities continued this year, despite no CFL game here this year, partly because of the events celebrating the 100th Grey Cup.

Sponsors of this years Future Stars were Economy Glass, City of Moncton, Mike’s Bike Shop, Confederation Bridge, Pepsico Canada Beverages, Majesta, Co-op, Moncton Football Association, Lounsbury Group, and Moncton Miracles.

In addition to the annual homecoming this year between two 4-0 schools (Harrison Trimble and Moncton High), Leo Hayes (1-3) and Fredericton High (2-1) will meet in their 12th North-South Bowl at 7 p.m. Friday (Scotia South Field, Fredericton.)   Riverview High and MacNaughton, both 2-2, will meet at 4 p.m. Friday (Rocky Stone Field, Moncton.)   This should be an interesting game as Riverview High is a young club showing lots of potential, while MacNaughton, a contender every year, definitely doesn’t want to fall to 2-3.   MacNaughton should find a way to win. Saint John High (3-1) hosts St. Malachy’s (0-4) at 7 p.m. Friday (Canada Games Stadium, Moncton.)   Also at 7 p.m. Friday, Simonds (1-3) will seek there second win of the season, as they visit Oromocto (2-2) at Oromocto Field Turf.   The week wraps up at 1 p.m. Saturday when winless Tantramar hosts Kennebecasis (2-2) in Sackville.

First photo shows Kyle McCluskey of Riverview High managing to make a catch in front of Isac McQuire of Moncton High.   Second photo shows Quarterback Andrew Crawford of Riverview High.  Both photos are courtesy of Ron Ward/ Times & Transcript.