Nova Scotia White to battle New Brunswick for gold in Atlantic Bowl

After another great day of six-a-side football under our belts at the U16 Atlantic Bowl and improvements can be seen across the board. We we’re lucky enough to witness three solid games of football today, Scotia White vs New Brunswick, Scotia Blue vs New Brunswick and finally Scotia White vs PEI. These games were used to dictate our final day of games on Friday.

Our first game of the day and game number 4 of the tournament was Team Nova Scotia White vs Team New Brunswick.  In this game we once again saw the dominating offence of Scotia White being led by their pivot Luke Greener. Greener once again showed why he is the most dominate player in the tournament. Greener was able to complete 3 of his 4 attempted passes for 83 yards one of which was completed to Kwame Franklin for a 43 yard touchdown.  Josh Wells was also able to pull down 2 passes for a total of 40 yards.  Greener was also able to lead his team in rushing yards with 133 yards on 15 attempts. Out of those 15 attempts he was able to find the end-zone once from 5 yards out. Kwame Franklin also gave us another strong showing on the ground with 31 yards and 1 touchdown on 5 attempts.  Defensively Scotia was able to hold New Brunswick to only 131 total yards and a early interception by Logan Sangster.

Although New Brunswick’s defense wasn’t able to keep nova Scotia from moving the ball their offence was able to put points on the board and finish the day with a collective 131 yards of offence. New Brunswick’s passing game left much to be desired with only completing 2 passes on nine attempts for 12 yards however their rushing game filled in when needed. They managed to grind out 119 rushing yards against the strong Scotia White front. Number 38 Justin Jamieson once again showed why he is New Brunswick’s go to man on offense leading his team with 74 yards on 10 attempts. Ethan Walker was able to bring down team NB’s only touchdown of the day on a 7 yard pass. Defensively New Brunswick’s highlight of the game would be the forced fumble and fumble recovery of defensive back Anabelle Lizotte.

Final score 18-6 Team Nova Scotia White

Game 2 of the day number 5 of the tournament  and although the scoreboard may not show it, it was truly an offensive showdown with 507 yards of offense between the two teams. Nova Scotia Blue vs New Brunswick provided us with the head to head match up of the balanced offense of Scotia Blue and the devastating run game team New Brunswick.  Scotia Blues quarterback Oscar Rodney was the first pivot of the tournament to throw for over 100 yards in a game.

Much like their second game on Sunday Scotia Blue showed us massive improvements, they were able to record 213 total yards of offense and seemed to mesh much more seamlessly as a team. Rodney was able to complete 11 of his 20 passes for 103 yards and a touchdown; Scotia Blues first of the tournament to receiver Thomas Kleinknecht. Kleinknecht was able to pull down 5 of Rodney’s balls for a total of 43 yards the leading receiver of the game. However we were once again showed that Bryand Sanchez Metellus is the true star of Scotia Blue’s offense with his hard nose down hill running style propelled him to 86 yards on 10 attempts. Metellus is able to hit holes with speed and drag defenders for multiple yards before being taken down. The play of the game however for Scotia Blue was Mathieu Cote’s 70 yard interception return.

New Brunswick showed us again their run heavy offense lead by tailback Justin Jamieson who propelled NB to the dominating victory. On 8 carries Jamieson was able to eat away at Scotia’s defense for 146 yards and 3 touchdowns.  Once again New Brunswick’s pass game was lack lustre with pivot Platis going 3 for 7 for 53 yards and one interception, however where he failed to provide through the air he more than made up for it on the ground. On 6 attempts Platis showed off he’s outstanding athletic ability by gaining 97 yards and 1 touchdown.  Defensively New Brunswick did their job in keeping Scotia out of the end-zone and securing the game for their team.

Final score 30-6 for Team New Brunswick

Game 3 of the day and 6 of the tournament was a one sided game that was extremely defensive however the scoreboard didn’t show that. With a final score of 42-0 for Team Nova Scotia White over Team Prince Edward Island and the story of the day was dominating special teams for Scotia White.

With only 200 total yards of offense it is challenging to see how Scotia White was able to put up 42 points however special teams really came out to play.  With 2 punt returns for touchdowns Scotia Whites Special teams were dominate. Liam Sarsfield was able to gracefully return a punt for a touchdown from 80 yards out and Noah Faith was able to do the same from 50 yards out as well. Luke Greener was once again able to show why he is the most dynamic offensive player in this tournament when PEI was able to hold him to only 11 yards on the ground he was able to turn to his passing game and complete 5 of his 7 attempts for 91 yards and a touchdown. Greener consistently through his past three games has put points on the board and made plays for his offense. The player of the game for Scotia however had his first break out performance of the day; Kaleb MacLeod Scotia’s tailback was able to eat away at PEI’s defense for 82 yards and 2 touchdowns on 10 attempts. MacLeod was able to mix his runs up between hard nose downhill runs where he would drag defenders for yards and speedy outside cuts for large chunks of yards. Defensively the highlight of the game was a shocking interception returned for 100 yards and a touchdown by the big man Cody Kearley-Smith. It’s not that often you see D-Linemen returning an interception for 100 yards and a touchdown.

Prince Edward Island had a tough day today with only having 80 yards of total offense.  The dynamic duo of Prus and Carter we saw on Sunday was not what we were hoping for this time around.  Prus’s passing was 0 for 8 and an interception and Carter was held to 22 yards on 6 attempts.  Carter’s average 3.6 yards per carry is a respectable number but nothing compared to his dominating performance we saw on Sunday. Totally yards leader for team PEI was their pivot Huner Prus with 25 total yards on 4 attempts a very solid  6.25 yards per carry. We look forward to seeing PEI rebound against Team Nova Scotia Blue this Friday in the Bronze Medal game.