Up to the challenge

Hurricanes looking to knock off Dalhousie for Atlantic title

The energy on the field was evident Tuesday as the Holland College Hurricanes prepared for today’s Atlantic Football League championship game with the Dalhousie Tigers in Halifax.

“You can feel it right now. You can see them and hear them. They are ready to go,” said ’Canes head coach Ross Young. “They know we are the underdogs and we can’t wait to butt heads with Dal and bring home the Moosehead Cup.”

Kickoff is 2:30 p.m. at Wickwire Field, weather permitting. If high winds and heavy rain prevent the game from taking place, it will be moved to Sunday.

For updates visit the team’s Facebook page.

Dalhousie defeated Holland College 25-24 on Sept. 29 and 23-12 on Oct. 7 en route to a 6-0 regular season while the Hurricanes went 2-4 but beat UNB Fredericton in the semifinal.

Young said with a youthful group, it can take a while to come together, but the pieces are finally falling into place.

“We just need to shut down the big plays and stop their run.”

Defensive linemen Bradley Lawton couldn’t agree more.

“We have (to) shut down their run, control the gaps and leave it all out there,” he said. “We want this championship. Dal took it from us last year and now it’s our turn.”

Team unity has been on display all season for the Hurricanes and will key today.

“Every practice, we do offence versus defence, and we are always giving each other a hand. If a guy can’t block me, I’ll tell him what he can do to block me better,” said Lawton.

“We always break it down and encourage each other to be the best we can.”

Wide receiver Matthew-Uriah Kaye-Mitchell thinks teamwork and each player doing their specific job are certainly the keys to success.

“If we are supposed to run 10 yards, then we better run 10 yards and not cut it short because it’s going over top. We have to help our QB out.”