Muskies rally to sink Pirates

The Muskie ‘A’ football team erased a six-point halftime deficit to beat the Grant Park Pirates 32-18 last Friday in Winnipeg.
Two big runs helped the Muskies rally to victory. Down 18-14 in the third quarter, tailback Dan Hettinga scampered 60 yards to make it 21-14 for the black-and-gold.
Then in the fourth-quarter, Muskie wide receiver Adam McTavish went 100 yards from the team’s own 10-yard line on a counter-run to seal the victory.
A field goal and single rounded out their second-half scoring.
“We started to pound the ball at them and it started to show in second half,” said Muskie head coach Bob Swing, who added his defence was stellar as they delivered turnover after turnover which resulted in 29 points.
As opposed to their first-half collapse against Oak Park the previous week, where they surrendered 14 quick points in a 37-0 loss, the Muskies grabbed a 10-0 lead just five minutes into the game versus Grant Park.
After a McTavish field goal, Jock Gemmell capped off a solid Muskie drive with a two-yard scamper into the end zone.
The Pirates answered with two touchdowns and a field goal of their own to hold a 17-11 halftime lead. But it was their own sloppiness which cost the most, said Grant Park head coach Stu Nixon.
“We took 200 yards in penalties,” he said. “Just too many little errors.”
Meanwhile, Swing said the team simply cleaned up some of their technical errors from the Oak Park game.
“Overall, we just did things better. We were healthy and better prepared from the week’s practice,” he noted.
The Muskies (2-1) will make another trip to Winnipeg this Friday to face the River East Kodiaks before their Homecoming game Oct. 5 against the Churchill Bulldogs.