Peewee Bulldogs notch first win

BY JOHN DECOSTE

jdecoste@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

It took four weeks, but the young Valley peewee Bulldogs finally have their first win of the season. They were looking to continue that momentum this past weekend at home.

Led by 172 yards rushing and two touchdowns from first-year peewee Cam Davidson, the Bulldogs defeated Port Hawkesbury 36-13 Saturday, Sept. 27 despite missing eight players.

“Everybody picked up their game, but I was especially pleased with the performance of our first-year players,” head coach Steve Melanson said Monday, Sept. 29.

The Bulldogs scored five touchdowns – besides the two from Davidson, Sam Bigelow, Brandon Whitman and Kyle MacMullin had one each – and Brandon Rhodenizer kicked three two-point converts to round out the scoring.

Quarterback MacMullin, despite playing the game with an injured elbow, completed eight of 13 passes and threw for a pair of touchdowns along with running for another major score. Defensively, Jacob Melanson, another first-year peewee, had a pair of quarterback sacks and also recovered a fumble.

Bantams rolling along

Meanwhile, the bantam Bulldogs continued to roll along, improving to 5-0 with a 49-1 pasting of the Port Hawkesbury bantams Saturday, Sept. 27 followed by a 35-0 shutout of the Dartmouth Destroyers Wednesday, Oct. 1 in Halifax.

Bulldogs’ head coach Larry Priestnall said Monday, Sept. 29 that despite the lopsided score against Port Hawkesbury, “it was a good game. They didn’t back down from us at all, but they only had 18 players dressed” and ran out of steam as the game went on.

The Bulldogs’ number-one quarterback, Robert Adams, was unable to make the trip due to a conflict, “but Zack Best filled in and did a good job.”

Iain MacMillan led the way offensively with four touchdowns. Brandon Patterson added two and Alex McCarthy one. Mitch Getson, who has been pretty much automatic this season in terms of the kicking game, was successful on all seven converts.

On Wednesday, Getson had 13 points on three field goals (all over 30 yards, including his second 40-yarder of the season), a single on a missed field goal and three converts.

Patterson caught a touchdown pass from Adams, MacMillan and MacCarthy ran for touchdowns and Andrew Jennings-Lindsay added a punt single.

Defensively, the Bulldogs “played very strong” as a unit in both games, Priestnall said, with the result that he couldn’t really single out any individuals for special mention.

Speaking Thursday, he said, “we’ve played five games so far this season and allowed just 13 points. Seven of those were on a fumble recovery ran in for a touchdown, so the defense has actually given up just six points in five games.”

Atoms fall to 1-3

The atom Bulldogs were not as fortunate in their game Saturday, Sept. 27. Playing on their home field, the atoms ran into a bigger and more talented Bedford team and were beaten 50-0 to fall to 1-3 on the season.

There were few highlights on the Valley side, but head coach David Ross noted that Riley Bowker, MacKenzie Carr and Sam Lutz played strong games defensively. Benjamin Best and Alex Hazel played well also on offense.