Joey Payeur
Being part of history isn’t always fun.
Just ask Gen. Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Davy Crockett at the Alamo, or the Muskie football team on its home turf this past Friday.
The black-and-gold watched Brayden Coulis have a day like nobody’s ever had in the history of the WHSFL as the West Kildonan Wolverines’ multi-positional star was a one-man wrecking crew in a 46-16 victory that killed the Muskies’ playoff hopes.
Both teams entered the game having to win to earn a post-season berth in the Andy Currie Division (‘A’).
But it was Coulis—West Kildonan’s starting running back, kickoff and punt returner, and kicker—who ruled the day by scoring a league-record 40 points on five touchdowns, six converts, a field goal, and a single via a kickoff.
“We knew what we had to do,” said Muskie first-year head coach Mike Cuzzolino, whose team ended the season with a 3-4 record while the Wolverines advanced at 4-3.
“We watched film and [assistant coach Pete Moen] did an excellent job game-planning to stop their weapons,” noted Cuzzolino.
“But the players have to execute it and we didn’t have great execution on Friday,” he admitted.
The only score of the game Coulis didn’t contribute was the first one, when Wolverines’ quarterback Taylor Ward found Austin Benevides behind Muskie cornerback Tristan Badiuk for a 65-yard touchdown strike in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead.
After a big punt return by Simon Sepke set up West Kildonan at the Muskies’ 20-yard line, it took four plays before Coulis raced in from nine yards out to double the Wolverines’ advantage.
He then followed that with a booming kickoff that went for a single and a 15-0 lead.
Fort High hoped to turn things around with the ferocious wind at its back in the second quarter.
But before they even could touch the ball on offence, Ward found Coulis with a short dump pass into the middle on the first play of the quarter, which he turned into a 45-yard touchdown and a 22-0 lead.
“You know, this team seems dependent on us having to score first,” said Cuzzolino.
“The guys just get so down so quick as soon as things don’t go our way and we let things spiral out of control,” he remarked.
“And it seems we tend to fall apart a bit during the second quarters of games,” Cuzzolino added.
“Once they went up three scores, we knew it was going to be a long day for us.”
Coulis kept bringing the pain to the Muskie defence later in the quarter, taking a hand-off on a misdirection play and exploding up the middle for a 63-yard scoring dash.
Dougie deBernardeaux, who fumbled the kickoff return after Coulis’ run, redeemed himself by reeling in a pass from Muskie pivot Brandon Whitecrow and shedding two tacklers before zooming away to an 82-yard major.
Cole Kowalski then found Matt Cheetham with a pass for the two-point convert to make it 29-8.
All the good feelings that came with breaking the goose egg vanished almost instantaneously, however.
Coulis took the subsequent kickoff and saw a hole big enough to drive an 18-wheeler through open up on the right side of the field.
He made a beeline for the hole and didn’t stop until 100 yards later when he reached the end zone.
“Contain has been an issue for us all year, not just on kickoffs but punts, too,” sighed Cuzzolino.
“It’s really plagued us all season.
“I believe special teams has to be the strongest part of your game and we just couldn’t find a way to solve that contain problem this year,” he stressed.
Jacob Bolzan did his best to pick the black-and-gold back up on the very next kickoff—blazing through the coverage for a 93-yard touchdown return to cut the lead to 36-15.
“Jacob is an amazing talent,” Cuzzolino lauded. “He really stepped up his game for us this year.
“Our kickoff return unit had at least four touchdown for us this year and really helped set the tone in a lot of games,” he noted.
Whitecrow looked better than he had all season on the Muskies’ last drive of the first half after an interception by Cheetham.
The quarterback hit four-straight passes to put Fort High first-and-goal with time for one more play.
But in a play that summed up a tough-luck season for the black-and-gold, Whitecrow’s end zone pass smacked into the left goalpost and landed harmlessly to end the half.
The news didn’t get any better to start the second half.
Kowalski, the team’s leading receiver this season, went to hospital to get checked out for a head injury on an accidental collision with a Wolverines’ player in the first half.
Then midway through the third quarter, top Muskie offensive lineman Connor Pocock had to leave the game with a leg injury.
He was followed soon after by deBernardeaux, who hurt his hand while tackling back-up quarterback Sepke, who took over for Ward after the starter sustained his own head injury early in the third on a pass play.
“Injuries, unfortunately, come with the territory in football,” reasoned Cuzzolino.
“Our lack of depth really hurts.
“As guys go down, we don’t have a lot of replacement options,” he noted.
“Injuries wouldn’t be so hard to overcome if more kids would come out and play.
“But we make do with who we have, and our young guys stepped up when we needed them to and I’m proud of them,” Cuzzolino added.
Coulis tacked on a 13-yard field goal, then brought back a punt 48 yards for a major on the last play of the third quarter to put the game into running time with the lead reaching 30 points or more.
Cam Lidkea pounded a 65-yard punt single in the fourth for the final point of the game.
Looking ahead, the Muskies will lose 10 players to graduation, including Bolzan, Pocock, Cheetham, Badiuk, Isaac Firth, Joe Onichuk, Cody Bell, Nick Dennis, Jamie Blattner, and Gavin Richardson.
But Cuzzolino likes what he sees when he looks down the road to 2015.
“You know, there were a lot of obstacles this season and this year was really tough,” he conceded.
“We lost [veteran receiver] Ben Whitburn and we were short-handed as coaches.
“We had some attendance issues early in the year, as well as other school-related issues,” Cuzzolino added.
“There were so many things that tried to keep these guys from being successful and [yet] they still managed to find a way to come out and compete.
“They showed great perseverance and didn’t let anything stand in their way of playing,” he stressed.
“We were a lot better than our record indicated,” Cuzzolino said. “We lost 30-0 to Neelin in the first game of the year when we had maybe two practices that week with our full squad.
“Lots of kids got their first taste of real football that day,” he noted.
“If we played them again now, I’m sure these kids would beat them.
“We scored 163 points this year,” Cuzzolino continued. “That’s the most we’ve scored since I’ve coached here, so there’s a lot of positives I’ve seen.
“I’m very excited looking to our future.”
