Lucas Punkari
The Muskie football team seemingly has a daunting task in front of it in the quarter-finals of the WHSFL’s Andy Currie ‘A’ Division this Friday, when the black-and-gold will travel to Canad Inns Stadium in Winnipeg to face the first-place Steinbach Sabres at 3 p.m.
But head coach Chad Canfield has a good feeling on his team’s chances, especially after their strong showing in a 18-9 loss to the Sabres here back on Oct. 12.
“I think the guys are confident going into the game on Friday as they came out of that game a couple of weeks ago thinking that they could have won that game,” he noted.
“Our defence really took it to them, and I think that we matched up with them really well as there wasn’t a whole lot of big plays in that game.
“I expect more of the same in the game on Friday, and we will be working hard on our offence to move the ball down the field,” Canfield added.
The black-and-gold, who finished the regular season in eighth place with a 3-4 record, advanced to the playoffs with their 42-18 win over St. Norbert last Friday in Winnipeg—a game that saw their offence explode for their best single-game showing of the season to date.
“Our scoring was pretty spread out in that one,” Canfield recalled.
“John Colfer scored from a yard out on our first drive of the game, and then Cam Gobeil had his first touchdown on the next drive, so we got out in front really quickly,” he noted.
“After they got a touchdown, Colton Craig scored on the ground to end the half and then Cam got his touchdown on the kick-off return to start the second half.”
Tobijah Gerber hooked up with Finn Chalupsky for an 85-yard touchdown reception later in the second half to complete the offensive output for the Muskies, who had been struggling to score points in their most recent losses to Neelin and Steinbach.
“We made some changes to our personnel heading into the game, especially on the line,” Canfield explained.
“There were also a couple of players that are getting healthy again, which is great to see and is something that is always good to have happen before the playoffs.
“We’ve also been putting in a few extra wrinkles into our playbook lately, and there are a few things in our back pocket that we haven’t used yet,” he hinted.
On the other side of the ball, the black-and-gold’s defence created problems for Celtics’ quarterback Jake Siferd right from the start, forcing the St. Norbert’s pivot to make five turnovers.
“It was a bend-but-don’t-break performance from the guys,” Canfield lauded.
“Braden Webb had a couple of picks, Robbie Payne got an interception, Caleb MacIntosh had a pick-six, which was a big momentum shift, and Joe Ball was also able to force a fumble for a turnover,” he noted.
“They [St. Norbert] were able to rip off some runs, which was something that we are not accustomed to seeing, but we are not really concerned about that as it is something that we can fix up heading into Friday,” Canfield added.
Heading into Friday’s quarter-final showdown with the Sabres (6-1), the Muskies may be welcoming back a player to their offensive line as left guard Conner Pocock possibly could return from a broken thumb.
“He’s getting the cast off this week and depending on what the doctor thinks, he might be back in the lineup,” Canfield said.
“It would be great if we can have him back in there, and as far as I know, everyone else is healthy and ready to go,” he added.
