Moncton hosts Dartmouth in Maritime Football League final today

Moncton Mustangs’ rallying call all season long has been ‘Mustang Tough.’ It has served them well.

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The Maritime Football League powerhouse will be looking for its fourth consecutive league title when it hosts the Dartmouth Knights in the Maritime Bowl IX championship game today.

Game time is 4 p.m. at Rocky Stone Memorial Field.

Some of the names change from season to season, but what remains clear is that the Mustangs are the team to beat in the MFL.

Moncton was a perfect 6-0 in the regular season and thumped the P.E.I. Privateers 63-7 in a semifinal last week to reach today’s title game.

“The most important thing for us is to never give up. We need to play tough football; what we do year after year,” Mustangs all-star running back Steve Cormier said this week.

“We say that to each other before every game, Mustang Tough. That’s our own football. It’s different from anybody else. We’re a tough, strong football team and if we play that way, no one can beat us.”

Dartmouth finished second to Moncton in the regular season with a 5-1 record. In their only meeting of the season, the Mustangs defeated the Knights 16-6 in Week 1.

Dartmouth edged the Saint John Wanderers 20-14 in double overtime in last week’s other semifinal to set up today’s meeting with Moncton for the McIntyre Cup.

The Mustangs expect the strongest challenge of their season from the Knights today.

“They have a strong team, they’ve always had a strong team. They know their football really well and they’ve reached the final, so you know they’ve been doing something right,” Cormier said of the Dartmouth squad.

“We’re not going to do anything different. We’re going to play the way we’ve been playing all year and hopefully we come out with the victory.”

By Sean Hatchard
Times & Transcript Staff

PICTURE: Riverview Mustangs’ Patrick Forbes, left, reaches for the ball as Brett Gray runs behind during practice at Harrison Trimble High School field this week.