DALHOUSIE’S ‘D’ WINS AFL TITLE, 25-7

2 hours ago

4 min read

Dalhousie’s head coach and defensive co-ordinator, Freddie Diab, must be ecstatic with his Tigers winning the Moosehead Trophy, emblematic of the Atlantic Football League championship!

In preseason conversation, he talked of a future dominating defence and a run offence. Both were prevalent on an extremely windy, cool, but not cold night at Wickwire Field in Halifax. It was old school football, as the Black and Gold executed over 40 run plays very successfully on the turf and had limited good fortune with 13 passing attempts.

In regular season play, the defending AFL champs had lost at home, 23-20 to UNB in overtime and had defeated the Reds, 30-28 in Fredericton. When asked to provide some player info to the streaming team, I chose DE Logan Steeves, RB Caden Quong and last year’s AFL MVP, WR/KR Ethan Lord. All three did not disappoint on game day! Steeves, last year’s AFL defensive player of the year, known as a sack master and run stopper, provided intense QB pressure and made six tackles. Quong ran amazingly for over 200 yards on 34 carries. Never reluctant to lower his shoulder and punish a tackler, had his best runs in the fourth Q. WOW!

Lord, blessed with speed, great hands and excellent moves, executed two electrifying plays on game day. One, a 60 yard punt return for a major and the second, a 75 yard TD bomb from Jonas Anderson.

By no means was the game a pushover for the Tigers. Both defences played extremely well, with the score being 9-0 at the half for Dalhousie. Lord’s streak for six and a Liam Masner’s PAT along with a safety given up by the Reds, accounted for all the points. Both teams dodged disaster in the half. An Anderson screen pass was picked by Nicholas Caragan with Quong making a saving tackle to prevent a possible pick six. With 31 seconds remaining in the 2nd Q, a Masner punt was blocked and recovered by the Reds. But to no avail.

Negative plays for UNB, saw QB Jonah Rawlines lose a fumble which was recovered by the Tigers and an INT by Connor Strempel.

With the peninsula of Halifax reeling with high winds, Dalhousie chose to kickoff for the start of the 2nd half, thus giving them the gusts for the 4th Q. Masner who had a near perfect day kicking and punting, launched a kickoff against the breeze that gave the Reds possession on their five yard line. A few plays later, the Black and Gold forced UNB to give up another safety. Half way through the 3rd Q, Breenen Hynes ran for a surprise first down on a fake punt. The end result had Masner kicking a 15 yard FG and the score read, 14-0 Dalhousie.

Thirty seconds into the 4th Q, Dal’s dominating D, forced yet another safety. The Tigers now scrimmaging on their 35, saw Anderson let lose his best pass of the day and Lord sprinted the remaining 75 yards to pay dirt. The convert was no good, but Masner with another massive kickoff, scored a single, putting the Tigers up, 23-0 at the 14:05 mark. Later a booming punt by Masner went out on the 2 of the Reds. End result saw another safety for the devastating Dal D. Tigers 25, Reds no score. Masner’s foot skills can not be overlooked in playing in such wind. He gave a shout out to Max Parker for his consistent excellent centering which helps on his converts and punts. Parker should also be noted for five solo downfield tackles.

Other notables on the hit list include: Sam Martin with 6, Evan Collins 5, Cam Grover 4 and one INT and Matt Irvine 3 and a pick. But the game was not over! Nick Parker, a Reds WR and KR, with less than 2 minutes remaining in the game, returned a Tiger punt 90 yards for a TD. The Dal fans were stunned and the UNB fans were on their feet cheering him into the end zone. Austin Remillard made the PAT. The Reds were looking for more on the ensuing high short kickoff. Lord, a member of the hands’ team, was able to catch it, ending any further UNB hopes. The defending champs, repeated with the final score Dalhousie University Tigers 25, UNB Reds 7.

Shout Outs to; Jim MacDonald on a fine initial season as AFL commissioner. Dalhousie O line coach, Che Morales - great job! Josiah Sisco, Ethan Rae, Jaron Killam and Liam Brown, big hitters for the Reds. Paisley Warren, we have renewed your contract (anthem singer). Dan Hobson and his crew from Maritime Athletic Profile for taking game streaming to a higher level for Dal football.

An estimated 5,000 people watched the game online! Jim Wilson, Dal’s Robert Kraft who now has equalled the six rings Kraft has won. Without Jim, Tiger football would not have been reborn, and hundreds of students at Dalhousie would not have had the pleasure to play post-secondary football at Dal.