Argos dominate East all-stars

Eleven Boatmen named to team Prefontaine gets double honours

Jude St. John needed some good news. The Argonauts offensive lineman was mourning the death of his beloved “Grampamobile” yesterday when he received notification that he’d been selected as one of the two guards on the CFL East Division all- star team.

It was the second first- team selection for the 32- year- old, 11year veteran. He was one of 11 Argos named to the 27 spots on the all- East team. Noel Prefontaine was chosen as both the punter and placekicker. The week started out on a less joyous note for St. John. He was stopped at a red light at a downtown London, Ont., intersection on Monday in his big, grey 1991 Olds 98 when another driver ran a red light and crashed his car into three other vehicles including St. John’s.

“ It’s done,” said St. John. “ The Grampamobile (with 378,000 kms) is finished. It’s a write- off.”

Fortunately, no one was injured in the crash.

“ The crazy thing was that I only need about 10 more days out of it,” he explained. “ That’s how many days of commuting ( between his home in London and the Argos’ practice facilities in Mississauga) that I have left. I was saying all along: ‘ If only it can make it through the year.’

“ She was a beauty, but she’s no more. She went out with a bang.” Quarterback Damon Allen, slotback Arland Bruce III and left tackle Bernard Williams joined St. John on the offensive all- star team. End Jonathan Brown led the six Argos named to the defensive team. The others were linebackers Kevin Eiben and Mike Fletcher and defensive backs Jordan Younger, Adrion Smith and Kenny Wheaton.

Noel Prefontaine was selected as both the all- star punter and placekicker.

“ Even though, as a coach you’d like to see other decisions, no one who was selected didn’t deserve to be there,” said head coach Mike Clemons. He felt safety Orlondo Steinauer and receivers Tony Miles and Robert Baker were deserving of being selected. Clemons feels Baker in particular would have made the team if the ballot designated five receivers rather than four to reflect the fact almost all teams use the extra pass catcher rather than two running backs.

St. John was pleased that Williams, who plays alongside him at left tackle, was also named.

“ As O- linemen you essentially don’t do anything in isolation,” he said. “ If I look good to someone it’s because the guys next to me made me look good. Chad Folk didn’t get recognized, but he’s as good as any centre in the league.

“ I certainly hope he takes pleasure in Bernard and I getting it.” The first- place finish gave Argos a two- week break until the East final Nov. 20 when they’ll play the winner of this Sunday’s Montreal- Saskatchewan semifinal at Rogers Centre.

Brown, who finished tied for second place in quarterback sacks with 12, said waiting 14 days for the next game is “ brutal.”

“ I don’t like this,” he said. “ I’m glad we finished first in the East, but I wish we could have finished first and kept playing. I guess it’s good for some people, but for myself I like to continue to keep working.”

St. John, on the other hand, said he hasn’t found the break tedious. “With four kids the time at home is busy so that it flies by,” he said laughing. “ But actually you want to get on with it.”