NBHSFL Week 2: Matadors victorious, Royals first in East

With another great weekend of football behind us, the New Brunswick high school football league is in full stride and has not misled  its followers.

On Thursday night, Quarterback Brandon Duff  took full control of his offence and led the Mathieu-Martin Matadors to a 44-7 victory over the Tantramar Titans. The Matadors were without 12th grade tailback Mitch Cormier who was sidelined for the game. Brandon Duff, a 10th grade pivot who is playing his first year as the starter, seemed confident in the pocket and found his receivers open all night and showed tremendous maturity and confidence during the game. The Matadors also had lots of success on special teams, Returner Julien Cyr left the Titans searching for answers as he broke multiple returns during the game.

Brandon Duff said the victory was a team effort as everyone worked together all week and made things easier come game time.

“We had a intense week of practice, we were read to play on Thursday,” said Duff.   “The O-line was great.”

“I can’t ask for more from my teammates.”

Duff has two seasons left at the high school level and wants to keep improving. He is certainly a player to watch as he has yet to reach his full potential on the field.

“I will keep working hard everyday and become the best player that I can,” said Duff.

In other 12 Man action, the Riverview Royals improved to 2-0 on the season as they edged the Moncton High Purple Knights 16-4 on Friday at Rocky Stone Field. The Royals defense seemed up to all challenges and halted most of the Knights drives. The Royals used both there running and passing game to trouble the Knights defense. The Royals took sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference with the victory and have looked very impressive in both outings. The Royals will be facing their biggest test of the season in Week 3, as the team will face the McNaughton Highlanders, who turned in solid performance Friday, beating Harrison Trimble 39-7.

In 10 Man action on Saturday, the Hampton Huskies traveled to Moncton and seemed too much for Les Olympiens de L’Odyssee, outscoring their opponents 33-14 on the Road.  The Huskies  took control early and stayed in the driver’s seat all afternoon using a strong running game and solid defense to come away with the victory. The Olympiens fought hard all game and stayed in the game but simply could not finish offensively to close the margin. The Huskies improved to 2-0 and are in a two-way tie for first place with the St. Stephen Spartans. The two teams will meet in a game at  St.Stephen on Saturday.

In the other 10 Man games,  St.  Malachy’s beat the Sussex Sonics 26-7 and Harbour View dropped a 19-0 decision to St. Stephen.

Action resumes with two games on Thursday night at Rocky Stone as Mathieu-Martin faces Harrison Trimble at 4 pm and Moncton High and Tantramar have a dual at 7:00pm. Both games will be played at Rocky Stone Field.