Hurricanes on the hunt for the Moosehead Cup

By Bryce Doiron, Journalism student

Charlottetown, PEI – You could feel the energy when you walked up to the field on Tuesday as the Holland College Hurricanes football team prepared for the AFL championship game in Halifax on Saturday against the Dalhousie Tigers.

“You can feel it right now. You can see them and hear them. They are ready to go,” said head coach Ross Young. “They know we are the underdogs and we can’t wait to butt heads with Dal and bring home the Moosehead Cup.”

Young added that with a youthful group, it can take a while to come together, but the pieces are finally falling into place.

“We just need to shut down the big plays and stop their run.”

Defensive linemen Bradley Lawton couldn’t agree more.

“We have shut down their run, control the gaps and leave it all out there,” he said. “We want this championship. Dal took it from us last year and now it’s our turn.”

Team unity has been on display all season for the Hurricanes and will be an advantage for them come Saturday.

“Every practice, we do offence versus defence, and we are always giving each other a hand. If a guy can’t block me, I’ll tell him what he can do to block me better,” said Lawton.

“We always break it down and encourage each other to be the best we can.”

Wide receiver Matthew-Uriah Kaye-Mitchell thinks teamwork and doing your job are certainly the keys to success.

“If we are supposed to run 10 yards, then we better run 10 yards and not cut it short because it’s going over top. We have to help our QB out.”

At the end of the day, it is all about the basics.

“We just need to execute our plays and put up the scores. We know we are good team,” said Kaye-Mitchell.

The team will be looking to bring the Moosehead Cup back to P.E.I. for the first time since 2015 this Saturday. To watch the AFL finals online, go to atlanticfootball.co and follow the link to the Bell webcast. Kickoff is 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Wickwire Field in Halifax, weather permitting. If high winds and heavy rain prevent the game on Saturday, it will take place on Sunday. For updates visit the team’s Facebook page.