Joey Payeur
The yell that emanated from deep within Sekina Scheibler sent a chill through his teammates and a hush over the fans.
But instead of grieving their wounded teammate, the Muskie football team decided to fight for him—and almost pulled off a mammoth rally.
Fort High battled back from a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter before two last-minute turnovers turned a six-point game into a 45-26 victory for the visiting St. Norbert Celtics in WHSFL action Friday afternoon.
“They have heart, they want to win, and never, ever quit,” enthused Muskie head coach Mike Cuzzolino, whose team went from almost folding a week earlier due to a lack of players to nearly beating the Celtics.
“I haven’t been part of a group like this before that come out and battle like this group does,” he lauded.
“As much as it is unfortunate being 0-2, I believe we won’t be winless for long,” Cuzzolino added.
“If this group keeps fighting and believing in themselves, anything is possible.”
The rally occurred without Scheibler, the Muskies’ leading running back who rumbled for 128 yards rushing and a touchdown before his day—and perhaps the season—ended with him prone on the turf after being tackled for a five-yard gain in the third quarter with St. Norbert up 25-12.
“The guy just had Sekina by the foot and Sekina being Sekina was trying to drag him, so as he got tackled and hit up high,” Cuzzolino explained.
“It hyper-extended his foot and it got all twisted.”
After getting his right leg braced, Scheibler eventually left on a stretcher with a possible broken ankle—leaving former starter Dougie deBernardeaux to fill the backfield void.
St. Norbert looked to have put the game out of reach three minutes into the fourth quarter when Mathieu Cornborough scored his fifth touchdown of the afternoon on a 65-yard run around the right end to extend the lead to 32-12.
But Muskie quarterback Brandon Whitecrow and his teammates wouldn’t fade away.
Whitecrow threw a scoring toss of six yards to Christian Audette—the second Muskie of the day to record his first career touchdown catch.
“[Audette] literally practised four times and caught his first TD pass; that’s unheard of,” said Cuzzolino.
“He should be proud of his performance.”
A screen pass from Whitecrow to deBernardeaux covered 25 yards to whittle the lead to 32-26 and the subsequent failed onside kick didn’t even deter the Muskies.
Instead, the defence—featuring some ferocious hits from lineman Graham Anderson and defensive back Brady Meeks—forced a two-and-out and led to a Celtics’ punt with a minute left and the Muskies within a touchdown of victory.
But on second-and-eight from the Celtics’ 51, deBernardeaux was hit and fumbled the ball.
Charles Gillen scooped up the ball and raced 67 yards the other direction—high-stepping the last few yards into the end zone to crush Fort High’s chances.
“I thought [deBernardeaux] showed true leadership and stepped up when we needed someone to,” Cuzzolino said in defence of his player, who never left the field for the second-straight week as he played offence, defence, and special teams.
“Fumbles happen and when you’re as tired as he was in the closing moments, those mistakes will happen,” Cuzzolino reasoned.
“We will just learn from it and move on.”
St. Norbert rubbed more salt in the wound on the final play of the game when Kyle Davy intercepted Whitecrow’s “Hail Mary” pass and weaved 95 yards for a “pick-six.”
“You can’t fault the kid—he saw an opening and he took it,” Cuzzolino said about Davy running back the interception instead of just taking a knee to end the game.
“[Celtics’ head coach Adrian Huntley] was yelling at him to go down but in the excitement of the moment, I can’t blame the kid for running it back.”
Cornborough’s 40-yard run to paydirt was the only score of the opening quarter.
Celtics’ quarterback Adam Brockie then hit Cornborough with an 11-yard scoring strike on the first play of the second quarter.
Whitecrow then orchestrated an eight-play, 67-yard drive that concluded with him finding Damon Nyberg—a defensive back until being thrown in as a fill-in receiver for Friday’s game—for a six-yard touchdown to drew the Muskies within 13-6.
“Nyberg hadn’t even repped at receiver ever,” Cuzzolino remarked.
“He just wants to win and will do whatever it takes,” he added.
“He showed that he is becoming a good leader for the guys on this team.”
In the third, Cornborough and Scheibler traded touchdown runs before Cornborough scampered on a 61-yard score later in the frame.
Cuzzolino, meanwhile, was just grateful to have a team to coach after facing the prospect of shutting it down with only 18 healthy players available at the end of the Muskies’ season-opener the previous Thursday.
“I couldn’t say enough about [Fort High principal] Bill Daley,” he stressed.
“Without his hard work recruiting, we may not have added more guys.”
The team had 32 players by Friday, including the return of veteran centre Mack Flamand and three new female players in Chelsea Allan, Macey McMillen, and Mackenzie Azevedo.
Injuries, however, kept Azevedo and fellow receivers Serene Whitecrow and Winston Jourdain, along with lineman Keegan Struch-Oliver and defensive back William Low, on the sidelines.
The Muskies now will play three-straight road games—starting this Friday in Brandon against the Neelin Spartans (1-0).
Cuzzolino, for one, would love to see his squad earn its first victory of the season against the Spartans after they had made his sideline debut two seasons ago an unpleasant experience.
“I want to crush them bad,” he said. “They beat us 30-0 in my first-ever game as head coach and I want revenge badly.
“They ran back a ‘pick-six’ with no time left to make it 30-0 and the coach wanted them to run it back,” Cuzzolino recalled.
“That has remained with me and I will not forget it,” he stressed.
“We are going to take them down.”
