MWFL: Fredericton RV World Lady Gladiators to battle against Moncton Vipers for championship title

Fredericton RV World Lady Gladiators 21, Saint John Storm 7:

At K.V. High School in a late Sunday afternoon semi-final matchup, the Fredericton RV World Lady Gladiators arguably played the best game of their season, by upsetting the second seeded Saint John Storm 21-7.

“I’ve seen this team go through peaks and valleys this season and at this week’s practice, there was a calm feeling on both sides of the ball,” comments Gladiators head coach Steve Drisdelle, who says the team showed a lot of confidence during preparations leading up to the semi-final game.  “I’ve rarely gone into such an important game feeling like we had it wrapped up, and I did Saturday.”

“This team has matured and gelled together like no other I’ve ever seen.”

In the first quarter, the Storm got on the scoreboard first after Kendra Jones caught an interception that the Gladiators threw at midfield on their first pass.  Jones had a 9 yard run to put the Storm up 7-0.  On the next Gladiators offensive drive, the squad got the ball down to about the 60 yard line.  Alex Black completed a successful drive with a 15 yard bootleg to tie the game.

Gladiators’ receiver Jill Blanchard had a 45 yard touchdown reception and Black was once again successful on the conversion attempt.  At halftime, the Gladiators had a 14-7 lead.

Once again, Black added to the point tally of the Gladiators as she kicked the football out of the end zone to score a rouge.  Then, she connected with Blanchard for a 15 yard touchdown score in the final minute of the fourth quarter.

Offensively on the day, Black threw for 155 passing yards and two touchdowns while she registered 55 rushing yards for one major.  Additionally, the versatile player was successful on two conversion attempts and a rouge.  As for Blanchard, she amassed 80 receiving yards and found the end zone twice.  Slotback Michelle McLeod, two way player Kristen Chatterton and running back Tracy Underhill also had key contributions in the Gladiators semi-final victory.

On defense, Chatterton, safety Stephanie Bosse and defensive tackles Tammy Nash and Connie Timmons led the unit.

“This was the defence’s day, as much as credit is due to a much healthier offence and the unit kept us in the game all day,” assesses Drisdelle of the defensive unit. “We kept the Storm for the most part to short gains up the middle, which has been their strength in our previous matchups and we forced them to run outside and were able to keep them contained.”

“In the dying moments of the first and second halves, we managed to end Storm drives with key interceptions from Stephanie Bosse and Michelle McLeod.  When time was running low and missing their starting quarterback Lisa Harlow, the Storm took to the air with backup quarterback Trina Graves, but the Gladiators managed to successfully weather the assault ending it with McLeod’s interception.”

In his postgame comments, the Gladiators head coach says he was happy with the effort both units put forth on the field in the semi-final game.

“Our defence stood strong time and time again taking away the power run game of the Storm,” explains Drisdelle.  “We forced them to step away from what they do best and managed to force them into making mistakes and this resulted in turnovers that ultimately proved costly.”

“Offensively, we took what they gave us and exploited it till they made adjustments and shifted the focus of our attack as a result. We spread the ball around the field and managed to connect with four receivers for our best day passing since week one. We were solid on both the offensive and defensive line and I feel we controlled the line of scrimmage for the better part of the game.”

Moreover, the intangibles the Gladiators brought onto the field played a role in the success the team enjoyed this past weekend.

“I believe our depth also help us prevail,” assesses the Gladiators head coach.  “It was a rather warm day and our ability to limit the number of players going both ways was a huge “X” factor.”

“Nearing the end of the game we just seemed to have a “little extra gas in the tank” and when we did have to bolster our defence with some of our offensive players we were doing so with fresh legs.”

Moncton Vipers 41, Halifax Xplosion 0:

At Tantramar High School in Sackville, New Brunswick during overcast and wet conditions on Saturday late afternoon, the Moncton Vipers defeated the Halifax Xplosion, 41-0 to punch their ticket to the championship final.

In the first half, Marie-Noelle Beaulieu and Tara Keohan each scored a rushing touchdown to put the Vipers up 13-0.  The Vipers continued to have offensive success in the second half of the game.  After gaining great field position on a kick return, Justine Barter scored a rushing touchdown on the first play of the half.  Jenny Miller scored a major while Beaulieu found the end zone for the second time in the game.  Furthermore, Keohan caught an interception and ran it in for her second touchdown score of the game.  Brine was successful on three conversion attempts on the day.

As for the Vipers’ defensive unit, Karen Newcomb led the way with an interception while making several key tackles in the victory.  Karen Lewis, Tina Theriault and Beaulieu also contributed to the defensive unit’s success as they made key stops throughout the game.

Vipers acting head coach Miller says the score was not a reflection of how the Xplosion played on the field.

“Halifax played a strong game, the best they have played all season, but weren’t able to hold off the Moncton attack,” says Miller.  “They were doing things in that game that were impressive and never before seen from that team.”

“They have done a 180 and will be a team to watch out for in the future. Moncton by no means had an easy game against Halifax and it shows how competitive and unpredictable this league can be.”

NOTE:  Championship final between the Fredericton RV World Lady Gladiators and the Moncton Vipers will be played on Saturday July 21st, 2012 at Wanderer’s Grounds in Halifax.  Kickoff is 4:00pm.

Photos courtesy of Andrew Allaby

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