Seniors 21-44 Blaine, Wa

WEEK 1 SENIORS 21-44 BLAINE, WA FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 – BLAINE, WASHINGTON On Friday night, both our Junior and Senior Football Teams travelled down to Blaine, Washington.

The Juniors were the first to see action in a controlled scrimmage. Both squads looked a little rough around the edges, with a great deal of inexperience showing. Our Juniors Defense played decently well, not allowing any scores to Blaine, while Mike West and Connor McKee managed the only 2 scores for our Offense. The coaches hope that the experience was valuable, as a building block towards improving, when they start action against BC rivals.

Our Senior team followed with some Friday Night Lights action on a glorious Pacific North West evening. It was the first true game for our Seniors after returning from a controlled scrimmage last weekend against St Mark's in Ottawa, Ontario. We knew this would be a stern challenge for our boys after a Senior-laden Blaine team thrashed the New West Hyacks last weekend. It certainly was a true American Football environment down in Blaine, as the stands were nearly full, with a band playing, cheerleaders dancing and the feeling as though most of the town were present.

Fox started with the ball, and after not being able to score, seemed helpless as Blaine marched down the field for a score that seemed far too easy. However, a 61 yd pass play from QB Trevor Casey to Receiver Brad Lyons proved to be a very quick reply by the Ravens to tie the game at 8-8. With another Blaine score, our boys were driving the ball again, when a Mate McLeod-Genest fumble gave Blaine a short field to work with and another score quickly put the Blaine ahead 8-24. This knock in confidence caused us to have a disasterous 2nd quarter. Blaine would score twice more, with Fox committing 2 more turnovers and struggling mightily on Offense, with the passing attack going just 2 out of 9 for 12 yds in the quarter. The halftime whistle came as a welcome sound with our Ravens facing a daunting 8-38 deficit.

Things went much better in the 2nd half, with the Ravens Defense being able to hold the Blaine Offense to just 1 score, while another Casey to Lyons pass play (22 yds), and a 27 yd Trevor Casey run put 2 scores up on the board for Fox to bring the final score to 21-44.

Our Coaching Staff will take away some positives like producing over 200 total rushing yds (213) and nearly 400 yds of total Offense (390). It was certainly quite the experience, both in a learning sense for the players, and a cultural experience for all and should hopefully propel the lads forward in their season against competition from north of the border.

Game Quotes: Co-Head Coach Tom Kudaba: "Our level of commitment was good, however, our inexperience showed. Our team is comprised mostly of grade 11s who were part of the JV team that went to the BC Semi-Finals last year. The Blaine team was loaded with Seniors and led by a very solid running back. Our exuberance and first game jitters were exposed. There were just too many dropped balls and silly penalties. Trevor Casey, Brad Lyons, Mate McLeod-Genest, Brett Boyce, Kyle Miller and Mike Beck all had very solid performances. We will use this game as a stepping stone to improve our level of play and fitness."

Game Stats: Defense: Rushing: Kyle Miller: 9 tkl, 1 ast, sack Mate McLeod-Genest: 21 rushes for 119 yds, Fumble Brad Lyons: 6 tkl, 1 ast Trevor Casey: 11 for 89 yds, TD, Fumble Jake Bye: 5 tkl, 5 ast Kyle Deugau: 2 for 5 yds Kyle Deugau: 4 tkl, 3 ast, Fumble Recovery Passing: Kyle Sagmoen: 4 tkl, 1 ast Trevor Casey: 10 completions in 26 attempts for 177 Justin Jack: 2 tkl, 2 ast yds, 2 TD, 2-pt convert, Interception Griffin Medwid: 2 tkl, 1 ast Receiving: Peter Ghanem: 2 tkl, Forced Fumble Brad Lyons: 5 receptions for 103 yds, 2 TD Brian Hope, Baltej Dhanaya, Jason Shamatutu & Sergio Nick Agnoletto: 2 for 50 yds Cabrera: 2 tkl Jason Shamatutu: 1 for 11 yds Brett Boyce & Jeff Tilkin: 1 tkl, 3 ast Adrial Sellers: 1 for 10 yds Nick Agnoletto: 1 tkl, 1 ast Mate McLeod-Genest: 1 for 3 yds, 2-pt convert Dharshyn Dasrath: 1 tkl Adrial Sellers: 2 ast