Valley high school football teams all out in quarter-finals

BY JOHN DECOSTE

Kings County Register

Last weekend was the end of the road for all four Valley high school football teams.

NKEC, Central Kings, Horton and Avon View all lost in the quarterfinal round of the NSSAF playoffs.

NKEC, the only one of the four Valley teams to make the Tier 1 playoffs, mounted a valiant comeback against Citadel High Nov. 1 in Halifax, only to end up on the short end of a 21-14 score.

Down 21-0 at halftime, the Titans roared back in the second half, with quarterback Logan VanBlarcom (210 yards passing) connecting with all-star receiver Roland Provencal (five catches, 105 yards) on a pair of touchdown passes. “We played a good game, but just couldn’t pull it out,” co-head coach Wally Archer said. The Titans “had a chance at the end, but ran out of time.”

All-star Isaac Ueffing had another outstanding game for the Titans on defense, with nine solo and 12 assisted tackles. Ueffing also forced a fumble that gave NKEC back the ball with 29 seconds left “to give us a chance to tie or even to win.” In all, the Titans forced five fumbles and recovered them all.

Archer acknowledged, “it’s been a good season. “We were in all the games we played and could have won all of them. As coaches, we couldn’t be more proud of our players.”

Central Kings was the only Valley team to host a playoff quarterfinal, but it didn’t help: the Gators were trumped 27-3 by J.L. Ilsley Nov. 2 in Wolfville.

The Judges led 13-3 before scoring a touchdown late in the second quarter that gave them a 19-3 halftime lead, then scored just eight more points in the final few minutes.

Gators’ head coach Jonathan Ingles reserved special praise for three senior players: Jacob Meisner, a league all-star, played incredibly well, both on the defensive line and as a fullback in a short-yardage offense. Tyler Doherty, also an all-star selection, accounted for C.K.’s only points of the game with a successful field goal attempt. Quarterback Jeremy Shepherd, despite taking a hit in the first quarter that left him with a quad injury, connected with Devin Locke on a 65-yard pass and run play to the J.L. Ilsley five-yard line. The Gators went for the touchdown but were stopped short. “I’m not disappointed at all,” Ingles said. “We were 3-5 in the regular season, and were just a break or two away from maybe being 5-3. We also earned ourselves a home playoff game, which isn’t bad at all for a first-year team.”

Horton took on C.P. Allen in a Tier 2 quarterfinal Nov. 1 in Halifax and lost 47-7. “We played a great first quarter and a great second half, but they scored 24 points on us in the second quarter and that was the difference,” head coach Alec Hyndman said.

Will Taylor, “our top offensive weapon all season,” scored the Griffins’ only touchdown.

Despite their losing record, Hyndman admitted “there were some positives” to take from Horton’s second season in high school football. “We were more competitive overall than last year, and were really only blown out badly a couple of times.”

Avon View’s season also ended with a 34-0 quarterfinal loss to Halifax West. The Avalanche, who lost a number of key players from last year, ended up with a 2-7 record overall.