Joey Payeur
The St. Norbert Celtics may have the Muskies’ number but it certainly wasn’t as big as the difference on the scoreboard.
Fort High nearly erased a 20-point fourth-quarter deficit without injured starting running back Sekina Scheibler but ultimately fell 45-26 to the visiting Celtics in WHSFL action Friday afternoon.
The Muskies were within six points in the final minute and had the ball, but were done in by two turnovers that went the other way for St. Norbert touchdowns.
“We’re getting there,” stressed Muskie head coach Mike Cuzzolino, whose team fell to 0-2 in the Currie Division (‘A’).
“If they start believing that they’re like a brotherhood, anything is possible for these guys,” he added.
“Another week of solid practice and things will really start coming together.”
The Muskies seemed sunk when Scheibler went down in the third quarter with a suspected broken right ankle after being tackled with the black-and-gold trailing 25-12.
St. Norbert (2-0) added to the lead early in the fourth quarter when Mathieu Cornborough rambled 65 yards scoring for his fifth touchdown of the game.
The Muskies pushed back with a six-yard touchdown toss from quarterback Brandon Whitecrow and then a 25-yard screen pass to Dougie deBernardeaux to cut the gap to 32-26.
But with less than 50 seconds to go, deBernardeaux fumbled at the St. Norbert 43—with Charles Gillen scooping it up and zipping down the right sideline for a 67-yard scoring romp.
Fort High tried to make the score more respectable on its final drive.
But Whitecrow was intercepted by Kyle Davy on a long bomb attempt, who opted to run it back 95 yards to the end zone instead of taking a knee and ending the game.
Fort High also got touchdowns from Damon Nygard (six-yard reception) and Scheibler (five-yard run).
The Muskies now head on the road for three-straight road games starting this Friday in Brandon against the Neelin Spartans (1-0).
Their next home game is scheduled for Oct. 21 against the Dryden Eagles.
