BY JOHN DECOSTE
Kings County Register
For the second time in three years, the NSSAF provincial Tier 2 football champion is from here in the Valley.
The Central Kings Gators capped an undefeated playoff run with a 24-14 victory over the Cole Harbour Cavaliers Sunday evening, Nov. 22, in Dartmouth.
“The kids played very well - a far different showing than the last time we played them, when we handed them an early 21-0 lead,” a pleased head coach Jonathan Ingles said Nov. 23.
This time, Cole Harbour took an early 7-0 lead, but then the Gators went to work, scoring 21 unanswered points for a 21-7 halftime lead.
Mike Stevens hit Robert Trites with a touchdown pass for Central Kings’ first score. Chris Alguire then added a two-point convert on a fake play to give the Gators an 8-7 lead – a lead they would not relinquish.
Later, Stevens combined with Roland Provencal on a 65-yard scoring play. Alguire’s convert made it 15-7. Alguire then made three field goals, two in the second quarter for a 21-7 halftime lead, and one in the second half.
“We still had a few turnovers,” Ingles said, in reference to the previous game between the two teams in which turnovers were the difference in the game, “but not as many as they had.”
Offensively, Stevens continued to show great maturity at the quarterback position, and tailback Iain MacMillan and fullback Robert Priestnall “both had solid games running the ball.”
Defensively, the Gators held Cole Harbour to just 14 points despite their team being “ravaged with injuries,” particularly to the “front seven” linemen and linebackers.
In particular, Seth Browning, normally a backup running back, split time between defensive end and punt returns; owing to his athleticism, “did a great job at both,” including recording three quarterback sacks.
Linebackers Jeremy Foote and Tyler Varner and all-star lineman Jacob Gee all had solid games, Gee “despite being double-teamed most of the game.”
Ingles also had praise for “the entire defensive secondary – Alex McCarthy, Todd Dow, Chris Alguire, Roland Provencal and Shawndell Sampson.
“We shortened our bench quite a bit,” Ingles said, “but everyone played well, no matter how much or how little they played.
“We achieved what we did this season as a team, and this game was no different.”
He acknowledged the 2009 season was “an up-and-down year,” but the Gators “really hit our stride in the playoffs” and achieved their pre-playoffs goal of winning the provincial Tier 2 title.
As for the suggestion it is “only a Tier 2 championship,” he stressed, “a championship is a championship.
“The gold medals we received only said ‘Football 2009-2010’. We played the last game of football, at any level, in Nova Scotia this year, and we won it – decisively.”
Moreover, “the vast majority” of this year’s Central Kings squad will return next season – though, regrettably, not Ingles, who will not be back due to changes in his work.
