Joey Payeur
The limousine is booked and the tuxedos have been rented.
The Muskie football team is all set to go to the big dance.
The Fort High squad (3-3) had an even more enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend after clinching a playoff spot in the WHSFL’s Andy Currie Division (‘A’)—and without even getting their uniforms dirty.
The last team that could eliminate the black-and-gold from a post-season berth, the Maples Marauders, wound up tying the St. John’s Tigers 14-14 to put the Marauders’ record at 1-4-1.
That mathematically eliminated Maples from playoff contention since the Marauders only have one game left on their schedule and sit three points behind Fort High.
“It’s not the way we wanted to do it,” admitted Muskie head coach Chad Canfield, whose team had its bye week capped with the good news.
“But we took care of business earlier in the season and that propelled us to the playoff spot,” he noted.
Fort High currently is tied for fifth with the Daniel McIntyre Maroons (3-3), with the Muskies holding in the most important tiebreaker—that being head-to-head match-ups.
The local squad beat the Maroons 11-7 here back on Sept. 13.
But both teams only are one game ahead of the seventh-place College Lorette Collegiate Scorpion (2-4), who face the Maroons tomorrow, while the Muskies have a tough task in their regular-season finale that same day against the fourth-place Elmwood Giants (5-2) in Winnipeg.
The Scorpion beat Fort Frances 16-14 in Lorette on Sept. 26.
So a Lorette win coupled with a Muskie loss will put Fort High, Lorette, and Daniel McIntyre all at 3-4, with Lorette getting fifth place, the Muskies sixth, and Daniel McIntyre seventh.
But first things first.
“There’s a few things we need to rectify before the playoffs,” noted Canfield.
“I don’t like how we’re playing right now,” he stressed. “There’s a lot of work to do and not a lot of time.”
Canfield had some clear points of emphasis heading into this week’s practice in preparation for the Giants.
“We’re definitely catching too many blocks from opposing linemen,” he remarked.
“Before we even try to make a play, [the opponent] has five yards.
“Elmwood is a heavy, heavy running team,” Canfield warned. “So if we don’t get that corrected, it’s not going to be pretty.”
Canfield also wants to work more on the short passing game—getting the running backs to square their shoulders and head upfield more rather than running east-west while having his receivers deliver more blocks during running and passing plays.
As for the special teams, Canfield spotted severe deficiencies in his punt coverage unit.
“We’re not getting downfield fast enough,” he said. “There’s one or two guys getting down there, but they’re going 100 m.p.h.
“If they miss, and they will sometimes, the other team is getting a big gain.”
Despite having locked down a playoff berth, Canfield said the Muskies’ mentality entering tomorrow’s game against Elmwood will be no different than the rest of the season.
“We want to show we can be competitive against the better teams heading into the following week’s playoff game, where we may very well see Elmwood or [the Kenora] Broncos again,” Canfield said.
“We’re going in to win the game,” he vowed. “I’m not going to be taking guys out to protect them from possibly getting injured.”
Canfield hoped the bye week, which followed a stretch of four games in 14 days, was the salve his beat-up and weary troops needed after a 41-14 loss in Kenora on Oct. 4.
“[Linebacker] Tanner [Gill-Roisin] sat out against Kenora with a nasty ankle sprain,” noted Canfield.
“That was a huge hit for us,” he stressed. “He’s really our run-stopping guy.
“It was tough for us and tough for him to have to watch.
“Those sprains are tricky,” Canfield added. “Sometimes, they need weeks and weeks of rest to get better.
“But I’m probably not going to hold him out against Elmwood,” he noted.
“If he thinks he can go, he’ll go.”
Other significant ailing Muskies include starting quarterback Ben Whitburn, who is battling through an ankle injury, starting fullback Nick Dennis, who has a sprained knee ligament and also missed the Kenora game, and defensive lineman Dallas Gervais, who hurt his neck in practice early in the season.
