[BRANTFORD, ON.] After a season opener victory on home territory the Grenadiers march a long side their General’s in to week two clear minded and ready to pound the gridiron. “You always let the kids enjoy the victory,” says head couch Mark Magee. “They deserved it.”
On Saturday, June 2, 2012, the junior varsity Limestone District Grenadiers traveled behind enemy lines in to Brantford and went head to head with the junior varsity Bison’s at the Gretzky Centre.
To stay competitive “the goal as always is to practice hard and get better individually,” says Magee. “But more importantly become better as a team and be a team that is hard to play against in all three phases of the game.”
With a strong offensive line, the Grenadiers were unstoppable. After utilizing all three quarterbacks and substituting kicker Michael Bashall in to the pocket, through the air they moved the ball forward 191 yards with the longest being when #11 QB Chase Peck connected with #83 WR Chris Niles for 38-yards. But it was their ground game that dominated; running backs #28 Hayden Deacon and #3 Konner Burtenshaw had 36 combined carries for a total of 242-yards. The pair of running backs also had two touchdowns each. Peck spread the ball around to four different players who ran the ball for a total of 249-yards.
Limestone District Grenadiers #28 Hayden Deacon tries to push his way
through the Brantford Bison’s defensive line. (Contributed photo)
Feeding off a tremendous offense it was the defence that had to step up to the line of scrimmage and be all that they could be. The linebackers and safeties shut down the Bison’s passing game, including a spectacular tip by #52 LB Lance Cellini. The Bison’s threw 14 for 4 with a gain of 21 yards, two of which were intercepted by #48 LB Connor Tobin and #7 DB Farhan Imtiaz.
“Our defence did not allow the Brantford team to establish any offensive momentum in the game,” says Magee. “As a result we had good field position offensively.”
On the ground the front line had a near perfect game holding the Bison’s to 168 rushing yards, a majority of that having credit to Bison’s #36 RB Jordan Socholotiuk who managed to break through for a 75-yard rush.
Special teams is a big part of every team, it can win or lose a football game. Bashall made a huge play for the Grenadiers special teams by kicking a 39-yard field goal through the uprights.
Overall Magee is quite pleased with how his juniors played but feels that a crucial third of their game could be stronger. “Special teams are an area that can get less attention with the limited practice time that we have,” says Magee. “We will continue to work hard in this area to be a more complete team.”
Limestone District Grenadiers #17 Michael Bashall. (Contributed photo)
“We were very patient and executed our game plan with a good mix of run and pass,” says Magee. Judging by statistics, the game plan was executed with next to no error. The junior Grenadiers blew the Bison’s off at the knees and crippled their defence that led to a huge upset with a final score of 49-12.
After Saturday’s 49-12 victory over the Bisons, the Limestone District Grenadiers hope to extend their record in to week three. The Grenadiers play on home field against the Markham Raiders on June 9, 2012 at Loyalist Collegiate & Vocational Institute. The pigskin flies at 2pm. All three divisions for the Grenadiers play at home.
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