When the two teams first squared off earlier this year, Team Nova Scotia scored a 49-0 win. In the rematch at Acadia University’s Raymond Field in Wolfville on June 25, the Nova Scotia players had another strong showing, this time scoring a 40-0 shutout.
The Valley Bulldogs minor football club was well represented. For example, 14-year-old Riley Comeau scored a touchdown with 5:50 left in the third quarter. 14-year-old Owen MacRae scored a touchdown with 5:02 left in the fourth quarter, which he followed up with a successful kick through the uprights for an extra point.
MacRae, who just finished Grade 8 at Evangeline Middle School in New Minas, said it felt great to be part of the win.
“It’s just a big team effort all around,” MacRae said. “Everybody’s giving it their all.”
The Canning resident said he was pleased with his overall performance. He’s being used in quite a few positions playing with Team Nova Scotia, including quarterback, although he wasn’t put in as quarterback for the June 25 game.
MacRae said he felt that he had to concentrate on his kicking while preparing for the rematch. He felt that he performed well blocking.
MacRae said that, at the end of the tournament, 10 players would be selected to go play in Texas. A lot of the players, including MacRae, have this opportunity on their radar.
Comeau, a 14-year-old from Canning who just completed Grade 8 at Northeast Kings Education Centre, said it felt great helping to secure the win by scoring a touchdown for Team Nova Scotia.
He’s enjoying representing his province on the football field. He’s finding the level of play “more aggressive.” The team is up against different, bigger players from another province so it feels great to have scored two shutout wins against New Brunswick.
With a temperature of approximately 29C during the June 25 game, Comeau said he tried to stay cool and drank lots of water to stay hydrated.
Head coach Jason Warren said that perhaps the key to success for the Nova Scotia U16 team is having the right combination of players on the field at the right time.
He said he doesn’t believe this shutout win over New Brunswick carries any more significance than the first.
“New Brunswick is still in the process of selecting their 40 so we haven’t saw their best yet, I don’t think,” Warren said. “It takes a lot of effort co-ordinating all those extra guys and making sure everybody gets equal time…so I expect that they’ll be better when we play them in the tournament here in July.”
Team Nova Scotia has already established its 40-player roster, so if one of the players happens to get injured, they’ll bring another up from their six-a-side program that played earlier on June 25 against PEI.
Warren said the Nova Scotia players must concentrate on execution but, other than that, they should keep doing what they’ve been doing. The guys play hard and are hungry and excited. The team features a lot of good athletes and they just have to get them in the right places. Warren said that responsibility falls to him as head coach.
Did you know?
- The Maritime Challenge games serve as tune-ups for the Football Canada Under-16 Eastern Challenge, which will be played at Acadia University in Wolfville from July 18 to 21.
- The Football Canada Cup national Under-18 championship will be played at Acadia from July 8 to 14.
- The six-a-side Atlantic Bowl will be played at Acadia from July 16 to 21.
- For more information visit www.footballnovascotia.ca.
