Wildcats Get Horse Collared in Calgary (video)

The Edmonton Wildcats, coming off a bye week suffered their third defeat in as many
games at the hands of the Calgary Colts by a score of 40-30 in front of approximately 800
fans.

The Sunday contest pitted 2 teams who wanted to atone for tough losses inflicted on them
prior to the bye week. The Wildcats, who dropped a 27-13 decision to the Saskatoon
Hilltops at home, while the Colts took a 59-10 shellacking from the Regina Thunder at
Mosaic Stadium.

The Colts would jump out to a 10-0 first quarter lead, compliments of an Andrew Fabian
46-yard field goal a little over 5 minutes in. Doug Long would field a Donovan Kavich
punt and return it 72 yards for the first touchdown of the day nearly 90 seconds later.
Edmonton would get on the board in the first minute of the middle frame as Adam Senuik
found Mitch Richter for a 26-yard major to pull to within 3 at 10-7.

The home side would restore their 10-point edge halfway through the quarter as Jeremy
Long fired a 4-yard pass to Ryan McDermit for his first of two majors on the afternoon.
The game would take a 180-degree swing in the final 3 minutes of the half as Wildcat DB
David Berg would pick off a Long pass and run it back 28 yards for a touchdown to cut
the Calgary lead to 17-14. Andrew Johnson would put the visitors in front with 1:05
remaining with a 13-yard TD grab to make it 20-17. The convert though, was blocked.
Clayton Masikewich would relieve Long at pivot and score two majors of his own in the
3rd quarter on 1-yard sneaks. The point-after on the 2nd Masikewich TD was blocked, but
the Colts again had a 10-point lead, 30-20. Fabian would be good on a 38-yard field goal
try with 45 seconds left in the quarter to up the Colt advantage to 33-20.

Kavich would pot his second field-goal from 26 yards out at the 2:19 mark, but the Colts
would put the game on ice as Masikewich found McDermit for a 40-yard touchdown toss
with a little over 5 minutes left.

Wildcat receiver Jerit Lambert would close out the scoring with a 22-yard pass from
Senuik with 2:15 remaining to make the final 40-30.

The Wildcats had a strong outing on defense holding the Colts to 122 total rushing yards
and picking the ball off 3 times with solid efforts by DB’s David Berg, Miguel Barker
and Kael Schryver. Linebacker Kevin Hanson had a good day as well leading the team
with 7 tackles for 16 points while Mike Podloski and Delano Tennant each had 4 tackles
and a QB sack for 12 points on the day.

The Wildcats put up 232 yards of net offense with Adam Senuik completing 11 of 33 for
159 yds and 3 TD’s while the ground game without injured running back Justin McEvoy
was non-existent picking up only 96 total rushing yds on the day. Running Back Shiane
Runcie had a tough day only managing 21 yards on 7 carries, while QB Adam Senuik
rushed for 42yds on 6 carries.

By Stuart Gibson
Edmonton Wildcats Media Coordinator

Masikewich masterminds comeback as Colts dump provincial rival Wildcats

CALGARY — Clayton Masikewich can finally look at his individual stats line
without flinching. The second-year Calgary Colts quarterback came off the bench
in the second half Sunday afternoon looking cool, calm, and collected . . . and
directed the hosts to a big 40-30 victory over the defending Prairie Football
Conference champion Edmonton Wildcats at McMahon Stadium.

Masikewich (2nd year, Calgary, John G. Diefenbaker HS) scored on a pair of oneyard,
third-quarter touchdown runs, and threaded the needle with veteran
receiver Ryan McDermit (5th year, Cochrane, Alta., Cochrane HS) for a beautiful
40-yard score midway through the fourth quarter that put the game out of reach.
All in all, pretty satisfying for the lanky pivot who’d entered Sunday’s contest with
just two completions on eight attempts for 39 yards . . . and two interceptions.

“Yeah, I think I got some of my confidence back,” said Masikewich, who was
good on five of seven tosses for 117 yards against the Wildcats. “Going out
there, completing some passes, it got the monkey off my back.
“The first two games of the year, I know I didn’t play very well, and I threw a
couple of picks, and in those games I felt my confidence was a little shaky,” he
added. “(Offensive co-ordinator) Rob McNab did a great job of getting some nice,
easy plays in there for me to get my confidence back up.”

The Colts improve to 2-1 this season, while keeping the Wildcats winless at 0-3.
Sunday’s third quarter told the tale, as Calgary outscored Edmonton 16-0 — with
one of Masikewich’s TDs set up by unnecessary roughness and pass
interference penalties to the Wildcats, and the other thanks to a spectacular 40-
yard grab by McDermit down to the visitors’ one-yard line.

The Colts had looked shaky in the first half, coughing up a 17-7 lead and hitting
the locker-room down 20-17 at the break. Starting QB Jeremy Long (2nd year,
Calgary, Notre Dame HS) threw three picks, including one that was returned 28
yards for a major score by Edmonton defensive back David Berg. Meanwhile,
Colts running back Cuong Thai Lieu (2nd year, Nanaimo, B.C., John Barsby HS),
who’d averaged more than 100 yards rushing a game this season, was
effectively neutralized, gathering just 29 yards on nine carries.

“Night and day. That’s right,” said McNab. “Jeremy was struggling a little bit, so
we had to do what we had to do. We tell these guys: ‘Somebody’s going to step
up out of you quarterbacks and make the big plays.’ So Clayton did. He did a
great job for us in the second half.”

Sunday was also a day for running back Chucks Okafor (2nd year, Calgary,
Crescent Heights HS) to step up into the limelight and shine. Okafor lined up as
the Colts’ back of choice in the second half, earning his first 15 touches in junior
football. He ate up 69 yards, highlighted by a 15-yard rumble, and gave the hosts
a reliable first-down option that changed the game’s complexion.

“Cuong is such a slasher type runner. We just needed a little more power going
through there,” said McNab. “That was (head coach Keith) Kendal’s call. He said,
‘Maybe we’ve got to put Chucks in there, give him a shot.’ Chucks went in there,
and ran downhill. That’s what Chucks does. Good for him.”

Okafor was coming off an ankle sprain that kept him out of action during the
Colts’ first two outings this season. “I tried to change the tone of the game,” said
the five-foot-11, 200-pound fireplug. “The O-line was going great up front, and it
was up to me to pick the holes and go with it. It was a change of pace. I take it up
the middle — pound it, pound it for those extra yards.”

The Colts had taken a 10-0 lead before the game was seven minutes old on a
46-yard field goal by Andrew Fabian (1st year, Brooks, Alta., Brooks Composite
HS) and a 72-yard punt return for a touchdown by Doug Long (2nd year, Calgary,
Bowness HS). The Wildcats outscored the Colts 20-7 in the second quarter on a
pair of passing scores by quarterback Adam Senuik — 26 yards to Mitchell
Richter, 13 to Andrew Johnson — as well as Berg’s pick and run to paydirt.
The Colts continue a three-game homestand on Saturday, Sept. 18 when they
entertain the winless Edmonton Huskies (0-3) at McMahon Stadium. Kickoff is at
7 p.m.
The Colts had 314 yards of net offense with Jeremy Long completing 6 of 13 for 104
yards, 3 interceptions and 1 TD, while back up QB Clayton Masikewich completed 5 of 7
for 117 yards and 1 TD. The Hilltops running game racked up 122 yards with Chucks
Okafor picking up the bulk of the yardage with 69 yards on 15 carries.

Next game sees the Wildcats hit the road again heading east to face the 2 -1 Winnipeg
Rifles at Winnipeg’s Canad Inns Stadium on Sunday September 19th at Noon.

Calgary Colts Junior Football Club
P.O. Box 75039, RPO Westhills, Calgary, Alta., T3H 3M1