Mitch Calvert
The Garden City Collegiate Fighting Gophers used home field to their full advantage Friday, putting the visiting Muskies on the stringer in a 30-21 victory to open the Winnipeg High School Football League season.
Despite the loss, there were plenty of positives for the black-and-gold, including a second-half effort that saw them out-score the home side 18-9.
“We spotted them some points early and then battled back,” Muskie head coach Vince Gouin said. “A little trouble on our pass coverages, gave up some fairly big pass plays, but overall, once we started putting people in spots where they could make plays, they settled down and started playing well.”
Blake Wepruk caught touchdown passes of 25 and 23 yards in the second half from quarterback Dan Brunetta while Steve Williams kicked a field goal in the first half.
Two late safeties rounded out the scoring for the Muskies.
“Our system is pretty sound. It was something we got away from last year but went back to it this year,” Muskie quarterback coach Andrew George said.
“We kind of got a little bit out of our game plan at the end, as I would’ve rather seen the score 14-10 for us or something like that, but we were forced to start throwing the ball a lot because we got so far behind early.”
“Our team definitely has the talent to play with anybody in our division,” George added.
The Muskies’ home-opener goes this Friday (Sept. 12) at 2 p.m. versus the Kenora Broncos.
