Joey Payeur
The Elmwood Giants proved their point—and even received an extra one on the scoreboard.
On the heels of a 31-0 win over the Muskies in the regular-season finale Oct. 17, the third-place Giants towered over their black-and-gold visitors for the second-straight week—cruising to a 35-0 victory in their WHSFL Currie Division quarter-final Friday.
The loss not only marked the end of the Muskie football season but also the tenure of head coach Chad Canfield, who announced Monday he was stepping down after four years at the helm.
“I need to focus on some other things right now, like work and family,” noted Canfield, who finished with a 10-18 regular-season record as head coach (3-4 this season to finish in sixth place) while going 1-4 in the playoffs.
“I would like to still be involved, maybe go out a couple of days a week to practice to help out,” he added.
“But the head coaching job is so much other stuff than just being there from 3:30-5:30 p.m. for practice.”
Canfield hoped his team had learned from the previous week’s struggle against Elmwood.
But right from the very start of Friday’s game, when the Muskies were tackled in the end zone for a single on the opening kick-off, it became apparent this would not be Fort High’s day.
“I was hoping we would be more competitive,” said a dissatisfied Canfield.
“We looked at the film from the previous game and saw some of the opportunities we missed,” he noted.
“But this was tough to swallow.”
The troubles quickly mounted for the black-and-gold as Dougie DeBernardeaux fumbled on the Fort’s first play from scrimmage, with Elmwood recovering at the Muskies’ 31.
That led to a six-play drive capped off by quarterback Braydin Chicoine’s six-yard touchdown strike to fullback Andrew Ricard to make it 8-0.
After the Muskies went two-and-out on their next possession, the Giants marched 62 yards in seven plays, with running back Shaun Neil dashing around the left side for an 11-yard major which went unconverted to stretch the lead to 14-0.
Dallas Gervais, one of eight Muskie seniors playing in their final game, tried to spark the squad later in the quarter when he jumped on a fumble by Elmwood’s T.J. Prodon.
But a botched exchange between quarterback Ben Whitburn and receiver Cole Kowalski two plays later was corralled by the Giants’ Samson Traverse to kill the momentum.
Fort High’s defence stiffened for much of the second quarter but was unable to stop a 10-play, 84-yard march by Elmwood, which ended with Chicoine scoring on a two-yard plunge with 2:18 left before halftime to make it 21-0.
On offence, meanwhile, the Muskies were thwarted all day by an aggressive Giants’ defence that held Fort High to just 29 yards of total offence for the game, including zero passing yards.
DeBernardeaux, who had powered the Muskies all season from the backfield, was held to seven carries for 27 yards.
That was one less than Whitburn, who had difficulty throwing the ball in the windy conditions the whole game and wound up with a 3-for-14 passing day.
“We always struggle to get the ball to our wide receivers, just because with high school arms it’s a risky throw,” said Canfield.
“So we go to our slot receivers more.
“But Elmwood was jamming our slots at the line and we couldn’t get a clean release,” he added.
“It completely threw them off.”
The fatal blow was struck by the Giants on the second-half kick-off by the Muskies, who watched Ricard take it back the other way 74 yards for a touchdown.
The scoreboard operator was so impressed by the play that she rewarded Elmwood with two points instead of one after Alexander Squires kicked the convert.
Despite officials being notified about the error, the mobile scoreboard remained at 29-0 until it was packed up and brought into the school due to threatening weather.
Yet when Tyler Myran closed the scoring in the fourth quarter with an eight-yard touchdown catch to send the game into running time, the manual scoreboard showed the Giants having 36 points instead of 35.
Elmwood racked up 161 yards on the ground, with Neil leading the way with nine carries for 56 yards and the one score.
Chicoine, meanwhile, went 9-for-16 for 128 yards and two touchdowns.
“It was disappointing how the season turned out,” sighed Canfield, whose successor will be named in the spring after a coaching search is conducted by the Muskie athletic department.
“I expected more based on our spring camp and the talent we had coming back,” he remarked.
“Some of the problem was coaching, for sure,” he admitted. “I should have done things differently, like have Ben be our quarterback at the beginning of the year instead of waiting to make the switch [from Eric Matthews].
“That would have given him extra practice.
“We also just weren’t getting the blocks we needed,” added Canfield.
“I really hoped our blocking would progress through the year but it never did.”
While it wasn’t the ending he wanted, Canfield still is happy with the progress the Muskie program made during his tenure.
“We’ve come a long way from having 18 players on the roster my first year,” he noted.
“We’ve got guys coming back next year like Kenton Bowles, who was absolutely amazing as a Grade 9 player to make as many tackles as he did on the defensive line.
“It was great to see Grade 9 kids grow up through high school and with more playing time get their confidence up,” Canfield added.
“I met some great people along the way, including my assistant coaches.”
And this may not be a permanent good-bye to the head coaching ranks for Canfield.
“I hope to return to do it again one day, after my kids are grown up,” he said.
Elmwood now takes on the St. Norbert Celtics in one Currie Division semi-final in Winnipeg tomorrow, followed by the other pitting the top-ranked West Kildonan Wolverines against the visiting Kenora Broncos.
The winners will clash in the CanadInns Bowl on Nov. 7 in Winnipeg.
