Joey Payeur
The first road trip of the season for the Muskie football team ended up being nothing to write home about.
The black-and-gold fell 16-14 to the host College Lorette Collegiate Scorpion yesterday to drop to 2-2 in the Andy Currie Division (‘A’) of the Winnipeg High School Football League.
While Fort High’s defence did its best to keep the team in the game, the offence struggled to get anywhere against a tough Scorpion defence that shut out the visitors in the second half.
“We moved the ball decently in the first half, both running and passing, with some good long throws by Ben Whitburn to Tristen Badiuk, Cole Kowalski, and Braden Webb,” noted Muskie head coach Chad Canfield.
“But we came out in the second half and couldn’t move the ball at all,” he added.
“We were knocking on the door once in the third quarter, but we dropped a pass in the end zone and then missed the field goal that would have put us up by two scores.”
After scoring 54 points in their first two games, Fort High only has managed 21 in their last two—and now finds itself in sixth place (2-2) while the Scorpion (2-3) sit seventh.
Lorette returned the opening kick-off 70 yards for a touchdown but the Muskies regrouped and struck back on Dougie deBernardeaux’s 10-yard scoring run, with the missed convert leaving the score 7-6.
Whitburn, who started at quarterback for the first time this season in place of Eric Matthews, punted for a single to tie the game in the second quarter.
The Grade 10 pivot then showed off his throwing arm on the last play of the half with a 20-yard touchdown strike to Braden Webb, who along with lineman Kenton Bowles, saw part-time action on the offensive side of the ball as well as handling his normal defensive responsibilities.
Whitburn conceded a safety in the third quarter to cut the Muskies’ lead to 14-9.
The black-and-gold’s defence tried to hold up the rest of the way. But the Scorpion would not be denied—plowing in on a short-yardage touchdown run with less than three minutes to go for the winning margin.
Whitburn injured his ankle while taking a sack while Nick Dennis sustained a knee injury during a kick-off return.
Canfield was uncertain about the status of both players heading into the Muskies’ regular-season home finale this Tuesday (Oct. 1) at 3 p.m. against the 10th-place Dryden Eagles (0-3), who play at home today against the third-place Elmwood Giants (3-1).
It will be the Muskies’ third game in 11 days—part of a killer stretch of four games in 14 days before the Fort finally gets its bye week.
“We’re a little banged up,” admitted Canfield. “We’re making it an optional practice today.
“Mostly, we’ll just be trying to stretch the soreness out and have a mental review.
“We haven’t got a lot of time to get ready for Dryden,” he warned.
