Joey Payeur
The Kenora Broncos scored 31 unanswered points to turn a close game into a 45-16 romp in WHSFL action here Friday afternoon.
“It’s the same mistakes again,” noted Muskie head coach Mike Cuzzolino, whose team dropped to 2-2 on the season to sit tied for sixth place in the Currie Division (‘A’) with the Neelin Spartans (2-3).
“We had bad tackling and guys not doing their assignments, or the little things we worked on all week,” he lamented.
The Broncos, meanwhile, kept pace with the Dryden Eagles and College Lorette Collegiate Scorpions atop the division standings at 4-1.
“We weren’t surprised by them and I believe we are a better team than we showed,” said Cuzzolino.
“We have to elevate our game to be able to take on the top-level contenders,” he stressed.
The Muskies grabbed the early lead when Cam Lidkea booted a 20-yard field goal to make it 3-0.
But the Broncos used a strong running game led by halfback Lyndon Hensrud and slotback Eric Melillo, who surged into the end zone later in the frame, to go up 7-3.
Lidkea was good from 20 yards again in the second quarter to cut Kenora’s lead to one.
Another touchdown by Melillo put the Broncos up 14-6, but Lidkea connected for the field-goal hat trick—this time from 35 yards—to pull Fort High within five points with three minutes left in the first half.
The Broncos weren’t content to sit on the lead, however.
Melillo busted loose for a long touchdown with 1:40 left, then Pacey Wickham got into the end zone with 17 seconds on the clock to give Kenora a 28-9 lead at the break.
“The guys were not in the right spots,” noted Cuzzolino.
“We’re not aggressive enough,” he added.
“We have to attack on defence and have to control the line of scrimmage on offence.”
While Kenora quarterback Dylan Andrews orchestrated his team’s offence masterfully throughout the game, Muskie pivot Brandon Whitecrow and his receivers mostly struggled.
Whitecrow, who finished eight-for-21 for 176 yards, was picked off three times by the Broncos. But Cuzzolino said he wasn’t getting a ton of help from those he targeted on the throws.
“Brandon’s mechanics weren’t very sound and he threw into a couple of bad spots,” he conceded.
“But the receivers have to do a better job coming back to fight for the ball.
“The first interception was in the area of the receiver, and it was a case of the receiver not going up and battling for it,” Cuzzolino recalled.
“The second one was tipped and the third one was off of [Cole] Kowalski’s hands, although it was thrown a bit behind him.”
Kowalski finished with five catches for 108 yards and now is the division leader in receiving yards (352) and receiving touchdowns (six).
Matt Booth hauled in two passes for 64 yards before his day—and possibly his season—ended early due to an apparent upper-body injury.
“He’s our No. 2 receiver and he was having a pretty solid game,” Cuzzolino said of Booth.
The Broncos struck for a touchdown in the third quarter on an Andrews’ quarterback keeper to make it 35-9.
Kenora then got a fourth touchdown from Melillo in the fourth quarter to lead 42-9.
The Broncos added a 35-yard field goal from Connor McCardle before Muskie halfback Sekina Scheibler gave fans a rare chance to cheer when he scored on a late 63-yard run that was converted by Lidkea to cap the scoring.
Scheibler wound up with 166 yards rushing on 14 carries.
Looking ahead, the Muskies still have a good chance to finish at 4-2, which opens up a multitude of playoff scenarios.
This year’s revamped WHSFL playoffs will see the top four finishers in the Currie Division and the bottom four finishers in the Kas Vidruk Division (‘AA’) grouped together in their own playoff bracket.
The other seven Currie teams will square off in a separate playoff tournament.
With the St. John’s Tigers (3-1), Portage Collegiate Institute Trojans (3-2), Neelin, and the Muskies all bunched up behind the top three teams, it’s anyone’s guess where the black-and-gold will land come the post-season—or if they will get at least one home playoff game.
Fort High will face the Maples Marauders (1-3) this Friday at Investors Group Field (home of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers).
Then they’ll close out the regular season Oct. 23 on the road against the St. Norbert Celtics (1-4).
“We’ve just got to reload,” said Cuzzolino.
“Maples is not going to make it easy for us,” he warned.
