Crusaders end Muskie gridiron season

The looks on their faces said it all.
Muskie receiver Kevin Gemmell and cornerback Jason Kellar wore their emotions on their sleeves after last Thursday’s 38-0 quarter-final loss to the top-ranked St. Paul’s Crusaders at Canad Inns Stadium in Winnipeg.
It was a combination of frustration at a second-straight winless season in the Winnipeg High School Football League—along with the sadness of knowing they both had played their final down for the black-and-gold.
But there was nary an ounce of regret to be found for putting their bodies and souls through the punishment that high school football can dish out.
“This was the best year, even going 0-7 [not including the playoff loss],” said Gemmell. “I wouldn’t have played this season with anyone but this team.”
Kellar and his defensive mates did their best to withstand the league’s top offensive unit. But with their own point producers eking out a mere 63 yards in total offence (including minus-eight in the first half), the burden to keep the Muskies close was too much to bear.
“They just outmuscled us,” conceded Kellar. “Being out on the field the whole time just wears you down.”
Gemmell voiced his agreement—upset that despite forcing two turnovers and blocking a punt, the Muskies were unable to manufacture anything on the scoreboard.
“Every time the defence made a stop, the offence didn’t come through,” said Gemmell, who led the WHSFL in receiving yardage (508) and was second in receptions (29) during the regular season.
“Everyone tried hard, but we’ve also got half of our offensive line playing both ways and that was tough on them, too.”
Head coach Bob Swing said the physical might of the Crusaders—and the Muskies’ inability to find an antidote for it—dictated the outcome of the game.
“They’re very big and strong up front,” Swing noted. “You can beat bigger and stronger guys with technique. But when we don’t have very good technique, you get what you had out there in the first half.
“They just pounded us physically.”
< *c>Opening statement
St. Paul’s, who took an unbeaten 7-0 mark into the quarter-finals, flexed their biceps from the get-go, taking the opening kickoff and marching 76 yards in six plays.
The WHSFL’s premier running back, Chaanse Fennell—tops on the circuit in rushing yardage (1,279) and touchdowns (17)—capped the drive with a 48-yard burst to the end zone to make it 7-0.
The Muskies recovered from the early body blow and threw a mean left hook of their own as Scott Galusha pounced on a fumble by Crusaders’ quarterback Mark Ralph at Fort High’s 52-yard line to give the black-and-gold excellent field position.
But the theme of the evening became painfully apparent at that point. A Crusaders’ sack and a pass from quarterback Andrew George to receiver Larry Pham that was stopped behind the line of scrimmage netted the Muskies minus-11 yards in two plays—forcing a punt and short-circuiting any enthusiasm gained from the fumble recovery.
Jake Esselink then blocked Antonio Hajzler’s punt on the subsequent drive to again put the Muskies in business, this time at the Fort Frances 39.
But St. Paul’s turned right around and returned the favour, with Kellen Blower doing the honours for St. Paul’s to set the Crusaders up at the Muskie 21.
“That was it right there for me,” Swing said about the turnaround. “I thought we had our chances, but the whole season we’ve been doing the same thing.”
Four plays later, Brendon Corbett ran six yards up the gut to push the lead to 14-0 near the start of the second quarter. After Hajzler added a 19-yard field goal on the next drive, the Muskies were standing at the cliff’s edge.
They bought themselves some time when senior safety Jordy Botsford picked off a Ralph pass at Fort High’s 7. But after gaining their only first down of the half, the Muskies again punted from deep within their own zone.
The short field gave St. Paul’s one more chance to score before halftime, and they made the most of it.
Fennell—who had scored three touchdowns in the Crusaders’ 45-4 win here the previous week to close out the regular season—broke loose for a 19-yard scamper with 14 seconds left to increase the lead to 24-0.
The Muskies took heart despite the deficit, having watched the River East Kodiaks rally from a 28-3 deficit in the quarter-final game before theirs to beat the Churchill Bulldogs in double overtime.
But in the home stadium of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, it was ironic that a St. Paul’s ground assault would seal the Muskies’ doom.
On a first-and-five play in the second half after a Fort High offside penalty, Corbett took a hand-off and ripped through the heart of the Muskie defence to sail 62 yards to the major and a 31-0 cushion.
And because of the 30-point difference, the rest of the game was played without stop time.
If that wasn’t enough, Hajzler nailed a low line drive on the ensuing kickoff which rebounded off Muskie up-back Shane MacDonald and right into the hands of Blower at the Fort Frances 44.
On the first play, Ralph caught the Muskies with only 11 men on the field and found Brad House wide open behind Kellar for the final scoring play.
“It was just a comedy of errors at that point,” Swing said about the circumstances that saw Botsford mistakenly on the sidelines instead of on the field.
“But our secondary did everything we asked of it,” he added. “Jason [Kellar] and Jon [Wood] had to play tougher on the corners, and they did. And Jordy [Botsford] and Ty [Griffith] were in on a bunch of tackles.”
< *c>Late life
The Muskies put together their longest drive of the game to start the fourth quarter, going 28 yards on eight plays before turning the ball over on downs when George overthrew a streaking Gemmell down the right sideline on third-and-five.
Botsford made up for his third-quarter error by collecting his second turnover of the game on a fumble recovery late in the fourth.
But after George hit MacDonald for 25 yards on the team’s longest offensive play of the night, Blower brought an end to the Muskie campaign with an interception at the Crusaders’ 35 on the game’s final play.
Though the loss marked the 19th-straight for the black-and-gold in the ‘AA’ Division of the WHSFL, Swing wasn’t having any talk about a possible move to the lower-calibre ‘A’ Division next year.
“That doesn’t jive with our coaching philosophy,” Swing said adamantly. “If I take the easy route and go that way to get a few wins, it goes completely against the philosophy we’ve had around here.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he added. “People thinking I don’t want to win is absolutely absurd. But we have to first do our best to recruit the athletes we need to make our program better.
“When we do that and if we still can’t compete, and of that I’m 100 percent doubtful, then we’ll drop [down] a division.
“There’s teams that got beat worse than us this weekend,” he continued. “If the program is so bad, why are two of our players been almost guaranteed to be recruited by colleges?
“We’ve been at the top of the mountain, and the fall is fast and steep, and it takes a long time to crawl back up,” Swing concluded. “But I’m not going anywhere. We’ll get this done.”