Homecoming a lopsided loss for Muskies

It wasn’t much of a homecoming for the Muskie varsity ‘A’ football team on Friday afternoon as the visiting Oak Park Raiders stormed away with a 46-7 victory.
The loss left the Muskies with a 1-5 record for seventh place in the eight-team ‘AA’ conference of the Winnipeg High School Football League.
The black-and-gold wrap up the regular season here this Friday against the River East Kodiaks.
“We’re a slow-starting team, and I think that has a lot to do with our confidence and I think that has to do with many, many other things,” said Muskie head coach Bob Swing.
“But we rallied well in the second half,” he added.
After allowing 39 points in the first half, Fort High held the undefeated and top-ranked Raiders to just one touchdown in the second half while and notching one of their own.
Tailback Thomas Edwards took the ball from the Muskies’ own 50-yard line and was able to reach the Raiders’ three. He then punched it in after two failed attempts.
The game didn’t start out well as Muskie starting quarterback Ty Griffith suffered a concussion that sidelined him for the entire game.’
Because his back-up, Joel Herbert, hadn’t had many repetitions at the quarterback position, the black-and-gold were forced to make significant changes to their playbook.
“Something that we knew we could run against these guys were our counter series, but we couldn’t run the series that we wanted to run just because Joel didn’t have enough reps at it,” noted offensive co-ordinator Shane Beckett.
“So that was hard, because now we have to change our game plan, but Joel really stepped in there,” he added.
The Muskies now have allowed 191 points over six games (31.8 pts/game) while only scoring 45 (7.5 pts/game).
If they can beat the Kodiaks (2-4) this Friday, the black-and-gold could jump up to sixth place in the conference heading to the playoffs, which start next week in Winnipeg.
That would significantly increase their chances at a successful post-season run.
“It’s a big game for us because if we beat River East, we slot up a little bit higher,” noted Beckett.
“It also adds confidence because all of a sudden you have two wins in a season and you have a win going into the playoffs, and that’s a pretty big deal,” he added.
In related news, the Muskie Bantam (‘B’) football team ended their season on a losing note, falling 36-7 to the Thunder Bay Marauders here Saturday afternoon.