Defence slams the door
Hurricanes kept Seawolves offence at bay to go 2-1
The Holland College Hurricanes football club’s defence had its biggest game of the season Saturday in a 17-8 victory over the UNB Saint John Seawolves.
Playing on a cool, breezy day at UPEI Alumni Canada Games Place, the Seawolves made things interesting with 1:18 to play in the fourth quarter, scoring their first major of the day off a Eugene McMinns’ fumble and reducing the Hurricanes’ lead to 11-8. However, the ‘Canes offence salted the game away just seconds later with its own touchdown courtesy of running back Steeve Julien.
“Our defensive line stepped up and had their best game all season,’’ said linebacker John Ross Young. “I don’t know how many sacks we had but we had a lot of sacks. They didn’t get any yards running for the most part.’’ The Hurricanes improve to 2-1 on the season and now get a bye before hosting UNB Fredericton on Oct. 15.
There will be a few things to work on, in the meantime. While the Hurricanes held the Seawolves in check for much of the game, the flags were flying all over the place. It seemed to be a game full of penalties. “The offence had some good plays, some good catches but there’s still things we’ll work on. There were a lot of flags. That’s something we have to clean up, too. A lot of penalties that didn’t have to happen, away from the play but those are discipline (issues) that are correctable,’’ the linebacker said. Head coach Ross Young said it was tough to get any kind of momentum going. “We have to clean up our act. We were flagged all day,’’ Ross Young said. “Our defence was getting stronger all day and the game held. Sometimes, kids can make some bad decisions.’’ The head coach pointed to the fumble as one example, a play that created a three-point game with just over a minute to go.
“That’s a bit of frustration on the (offence) . . . a guy that is wanting to make something happen. That late in the game you just want the ball down and move on.’’
The head coach said his special teams came up big.
“Really happy with our specials (play) and really happy with our defence. I’m happy that our offence was starting to find its rhythm. Kids get frustrated because they all want the ball. Majority of our offence are rookies and over half our D are rookies.’’