BY JOHN DECOSTE
Kings County Register
The Horton Griffins took care of business on the final weekend of the NSSAF football regular season and, as a result, will host a Tier 1 playoff game after finishing the regular season with a 7-1 record.
It wasn’t always easy, but the Griffins topped the J. L. Ilsley Judges 27-22 in an entertaining game (from a fan’s perspective) Oct. 31 in Wolfville.
Horton had six players out with the flu; two others played with the flu.
“We’re happy with the win, though we definitely could have played better,” Horton head coach Alec Hyndman said after the game. “We weren’t clicking at all in the first half.”
J.L. Ilsley jumped out to a 14-0 second quarter lead after two Horton turnovers, one on an interception and the other on a fumble, gave the Judges good field position.
Horton got on the scoreboard late in the second quarter, when Nick Bawn found Adam Melanson, who played fullback on offense for the Griffins, with a short scoring pass. The convert attempt was unsuccessful, and the Griffins went into the halftime break down 14-6.
After the intermission, it didn’t take Horton long to both establish a strong running game and turn the score around. Powered by strong performances from Robert Adams and Melanson, Horton scored 19 unanswered points in the third quarter to take a 25-14 lead. Adams ran for two touchdowns and Melanson one, giving both players two touchdowns for the game. The Griffins added a safety to lead 27-14 (at the point, Horton had scored 27 straight points), but J.L. Ilsley wasn’t through, marching down the field for a touchdown to make it 27-20, then forcing Horton to take a safety to pull to within five at 27-22.
The Griffins defense, though, came up big, forcing the Judges to turn the ball over on downs on their final possession to clinch the victory.
“We’ve always been able to come back,” Hyndman said of the early deficit, “but, on the other hand, we probably shouldn’t have been behind in the first place. Give credit to Ilsley, though. They battled hard and didn’t give up.”
As for the defense, “they’ve been there for us all year. Anytime we’ve needed a big play or a big stop, we’ve gotten them.”
When unbeaten Citadel blanked previously unbeaten Sir John A. Macdonald Flames 9-0 in their game Oct. 31, Horton officially clinched second place in the standings. Horton will host Lockview in a Tier 1 playoff game Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. at Acadia.
In other NSSAF football action involving Valley teams, Central Kings lost 33-13 to Cole Harbour in Wolfville to finish the regular season at 3-5. Avon View also ended up at 3-5 after a 27-6 win over Auburn Drive in Windsor, and NKEC finished at 1-7 following a 48-8 loss to CEC in Canning.
Turnovers were the story in Central Kings’s loss to Cole Harbour. The Gators fumbled once and had two interceptions on offense, fumbled twice on special teams, and were also assessed 50 yards in penalties.
Central Kings had one rushing touchdown, scored by Chris Alguire, and one touchdown reception, by Roland Provencal. Mitch Best, involved in 15 tackles, led the Gators defensively.
Iain MacMillan had 104 yards rushing for C.K., and finished the regular season, his first playing high school football, with 1,138 rushing yards.
In Windsor, Russ Lavergne’s 80-yard kickoff return was a highlight for Avon View in their win over expansion Auburn Drive. Steve Long and Johnny Dill both had rushing touchdowns for the Avalanche.
In Canning, NKEC, which dressed just 23 players, ended up on the short end of a lopsided score, but Titans’ co-head coach Wally Archer noted, “we saw some things we really liked.”
Among them was another solid performance by Vince Cashin who, like many of the Titans, was forced to play on both sides of the ball. Cashin scored NKEC’s lone touchdown on “a nice outside run,” along with turning in “another outstanding performance on defense.”
NKEC and Central Kings will meet in a Tier 2 playoff game Nov. 8 at Acadia. Avon View’s opening-round playoff opponent will be J.L. Ilsley.
