Red Bombers to honour Proudfoot

Published Friday September 30th, 2011 By CHRISTOPHER CAMERON For The Daily Gleaner

As the UNB Red Bombers prepare to host the UNBSJ Seawolves in week three of their Atlantic Football League season, they’re also planning a ceremony to honour Tony Proudfoot.

With kickoff at 1 p.m. on Saturday, the Red Bombers will retire Proudfoot’s No. 24 jersey, the number he wore at UNB, which will hang under the scoreboard at BMO Centre.

“Tony’s brother and his daughter will be here to receive his jersey,” said Red Bombers head coach Mike Dollimore. “We will also be raising a banner under the scoreboard. The university has also promised they will find a place in the Aitken Centre to hang the banner in the off-season, when the field isn’t in use.”

Proudfoot played for the Bombers from 1967 to 1971 as a linebacker before being drafted by the Montreal Alouettes. Dollimore, a former Red Bomber, played with Proudfoot and has been working with the UNB Associated Alumni to name a scholarship in honour of Proudfoot.

“I played with Tony my first year, which was his last year,” said Dollimore. “Tony was an inspiration to all the players on our football team. He was the leader on the field without question. He made his mark in professional football and that doesn’t happen very often from the Atlantic schools.

“We’ve been working with the university to have a scholarship put in his name to someone in the kinesiology department. There’s going to be a presentation of that at halftime.”

The Bombers will also be raising money for ALS research, as Proudfoot lost his battle with ALS in December.

“We’re planning on taking a dollar from every paying customer as a contribution to ALS and to support their society in trying to ultimately find a cure for that horrible disease.”

Although honouring Proudfoot is important to this weekend, Dollimore doesn’t want it to take away from the task at hand. The Seawolves will be looking for payback after losing 33-7 to the Red Bombers last week.

“I think the boys are always going to be up for this football game because there are four or five guys on our team from Saint John,” Dollimore said.

“Some of them even played for UNBSJ last year. There may be some guys that get caught up in the moment, but I don’t think it will be a major problem, motivating those guys.”

After their week one loss to Holland College due to their special teams lacking, the Bombers continued to struggle in week two, but their offensive and defensive teams stepped up.

“We still struggled on special teams,” said Dollimore. “(UNBSJ) did the same thing to us that Holland College did. On the very first play of the game they ran back a 90-yarder on us. Once we got the ball we took control.”

Dollimore said the main focus between games was not reworking offence and defence, but rather the technical aspects.

“Our systems are pretty much in place right now, so what we worked on in our second week was mostly technical stuff,” said Dollimore. “I think if we’re able to do that in practices, continuing to work on technical expertise instead of systems, then a simple, basic system can pay dividends if you can execute it.”

With the afternoon game time, the Bombers hope to have more fans in attendance to add to the atmosphere.

“In our view, this is when we want all of our games. It’s a prime time for the university students to be coming out on campus after lunch on a Saturday afternoon,” said Dollimore. “That was a tradition we always had for 30 years before at UNB and that was the whole idea this weekend.”

Bombers to salute Proudfoot in ceremony Saturday

Published Wednesday September 28th, 2011

The UNB Red Bombers will honour the memory of former Red Bomber and CFL Star Tony Proudfoot on Saturday at 1 p.m. at BMO Centre, prior to their Homecoming Game against the UNBSJ SeaWolves. Donations of $1 to the ALS Society of New Brunswick will be made for each fan in attendance in addition to voluntary donations being accepted.

At the start of the game the Red Bombers will retire Tony’s Red Bombers jersey number 24 by presenting the jersey to family members and unveiling a number 24 banner that will be displayed at BMO Centre during each Red Bombers home game and at the Aitken Centre between games.

The game also marks UNB Homecoming and the ceremonial kick-off will be made by UNB’s President Eddy Campbell. At half time the first Tony Proudfoot Memorial Scholarship will be presented to a UNB student.

UNBSJ teams come up empty on the field of play

Published Monday September 26th, 2011  in the Telegraph Journal

It was not a good day on the field of play for the University of New Brunswick Saint John Seawolves.

St. Thomas University Tommies soccer teams collected a pair of victories over UNBSJ, registering a 2-1 triumph in men’s action and a 2-0 decision in women’s play.

In women’s action, STU captain Rachel Green score in the 70th minute and Hailee Cornford score a minute later in the 71th minute to give STU the win and the all-important three points.

Elmer Morales and Craig Draper scored for the Tommies while Manuel Reyes answered for UNBSJ. The Tommies defended hard to record their third win of the season and remain unbeaten.

On Sunday, St. Thomas and Crandall University played to a 1-1 draw. STU’s Amanda Benedict was ejected from the game in the 36th minute for a hard tackle on defender Meaghan Dickie. Cornford broke the scoreless game with a run through the Crandall defence at the 59th minute but Crandall answered on a terrific header by Heather Gallant with three minutes left.

In football action, the Fredericton Red Bombers dropped the Seawolves 33-7. In other action, Holland College of Charlottetown got past Dalhousie University 16-13. Matt Hanson returned the game’s opening kickoff for a touchdown but the Seawolves dropped a 33-7 decision to the Fredericton Red Bombers in Atlantic Football League acion on Saturday at the Canada Games Stadium.

In women’s rugby action, the Mounties held on for a 10-7 win over St. Thomas, which moved them into first place.

In football action, the Saint Mary’s Huskies handed the Mount Allison Mounties a 60-6 defeat at Moncton’s Rocky Stone Field during the CIS game that was part of Scotiabank’s 2011 Touchdown Atlantic festivities. Major scoring for Saint Mary’s came from kicker Brett Lauther with 21 points (five field goals and six extra points), while Michael Dawes added two rushing touchdowns, and Jahmeek Taylor scored the first major of the game and made an 80-yard punt return for six points late in the third quarter. Jesse Mills and Melvin Abankwah contributed single touchdowns each. Mounties’ kicker Alex Curtis accounted for Mount Allison’s scoring with his two field goals of 35 and 29 yards. Leading rusher for the Huskies was Craig Leger with 129 yards on 14 carries. Mount Allison’s leader in the ground game was Emmanuel Musangu with 82 yards on 22 carries. In other action, the St. Francis Xavier X-Men fell 33-14 to the Acadia Axemen.

In Atlantic University Sport soccer action, the St. Francis Xavier University X-Men enjoyed a swing through Sackville on the weekend, defeating the Mount Allison University Mounties 4-0 in women’s university soccer action and 2-0 in men’s play.

Hurricanes rock Red Bombers on weekend

By K. Bryannah James – Sports Editor on September 21, 2011 in the Brunswickan

The UNB Red Bombers may have lost this past weekend against the Holland College Hurricanes, but it wasn’t due to any lack of commitment by the team. During the game, it was a hard-pressed struggle between the two teams, until the final quarter when the Hurricanes blew past the Bombers.

The first quarter started with a touchdown 15 seconds into the beginning of play by the Hurricanes’ Demetrius Ferguson. However, it was quickly balanced by a 13-yard run by Bomber, Eric Smith to tie the game 7-7.

“My offensive line was wicked tonight, I just can’t thank them enough,” Smith said.

Smith, who’s playing his last year as a Red Bomber, is one of the leading players to put points on the board, as his touchdown was one of three for the evening.

“I’m just a big guy who likes to play football. The boys on the field call me tanker, because I’m a firefighter in Oromocto. I just like getting the ball and playing.”

By the second quarter of the game the stakes were raised when the Hurricanes seized an opportunity as quarterback Jeffrey Madsen fumbled the ball, allowing the Hurricanes to one-up the Bombers, 14-7.

However, as the Bombers’ offense lined up on the 30-yard line, Sean Middleton ran downfield to the 14-yard line, securing the Bombers’ second first down.

Directly following, Smith put together two runs to get his second touchdown of the game and get the Bombers back on even ground at 14-14.

As the neck-to-neck game continued, it was just before the end of the first half when the Hurricanes blew past the Bombers with a touchdown by Ferguson, unsettling the Bombers and going into halftime with a 21-14 lead.

The Bombers started the third quarter with a bang as their special teams put the ball on the 50-yard line, giving UNB a good run.

Madsen had a strong pass to Cody Stewart, grabbing a first down for the Bombers, which was directly followed by Smith’s third touchdown for the evening, to tie the game again, 21-21.

“Eric was just phenomenal tonight, his effort was just incredible. Second, third, fourth, effort all the way through to score those touchdowns,” said Bomber head coach, Mike Dollimore.

Holland College answered back off he kickoff to take the lead again, 28-21. The Bombers scored their a fourth and final touchdown against the Hurricanes, when Madsen passed the ball to Stewart for nine-yard TD catch; the score now at 28-28.

“Jeff, we’ve given him a whole new offence in some ways and he’s getting used to that. But you know I thought he threw the ball fairly well, he got pressured and it sort of threw him off a little bit and he got sacked a couple times and you can’t do much when you’ve got peoples’ hands in your face. He did well to get the ball out a couple of times and he threw some very nice passes and I thought he did a great job tonight,” Dollimore said.

By the fourth quarter of the game, the Bombers didn’t move much on the scoreboard, but the Hurricanes did rock them down the lines as they pulled away with two more touchdown passes, leaving the BMO Centre with a 44-28 victory.

Special teams cost Bombers

Published Monday September 19th, 2011 By CHRISTOPHER CAMERON For The Daily Gleaner

The University of New Brunswick Red Bombers struggled on special teams from the opening kickoff Saturday night, resulting in a 44-28 loss to the Holland College Hurricanes in their Atlantic Football League season opener at BMO Centre.

Demetrius Ferguson returned the opening kick for a touchdown just 15 seconds in and the Charlottetown-based Hurricanes grabbed an instant 7-0 lead.

The Red Bombers tied it when Eric Smith ran 13 yards to the Hurricanes’ 14, then capped the drive with a seven-yard TD – his first of three.

In the second quarter, Holland College defensive tackle Tom Lund pounced on the ball on the UNB 38-yard line after quarterback Jeff Madsen fumbled the ball. Solid running by Dave Clark and Vinnie DeSciscio set up a two-yard strike from Nick Hunsley to Robbie Tufts and gave the Hurricanes a 14-7 lead.

The Red Bombers tied it 14-14 two possessions later, as Sean Middleton had a 25-yard run and Smith had back-to-back short runs for his second touchdown of the game.

“Eric was phenomenal tonight with second, third and fourth efforts all the way through to score those touchdowns,” said UNB head coach Mike Dollimore. “The offensive line gave him some holes to run through, but he broke some tackles and it was just incredible to watch and inspiring for the team.”

With just a minute left in the first half, the speedy Fergsuon took in a long UNB punt near his own goal line. He started up the near sideline before reversing direction and outrunning everyone for a 105-yard touchdown. The ‘Canes took a 21-14 lead to the dressing room.

“Special teams is always the weakest part (of the team) when you start off the season like this,” said Dollimore. “The difficulty is getting everyone out on time before the season. Special teams take a week or two to gel.

“If you take away those plays, it’s an even game.”

The Bombers tied it 21-21 in the third quarter, thanks to a 23-yard TD run by Smith.

“I’m just a big guy that likes to play football,” said Smith. “The guys on the field like to call me tanker cause I’m a firefighter in Oromocto. I just like getting the ball and playing. It’s my last year; I’ve got a career. I might as well have fun.”

The ‘Canes answered back on the ensuing kickoff, which was returned 60 yards by Clark to UNB’s 37, setting up a 15-yard touchdown pass from Hunsley to wideout Jeff Hillier. The score and the convert by Enrique Alonzo-Ruiz, who was perfect on the night, made it 28-21 for the visitors.

Answering back one last time, the Bombers would push the ball down the field from their own 45 into the endzone as Cody Stewart caught a nine-yard TD pass from Madsen with 1:01 left in the third quarter.

That would be all the offence for the Red Bombers, however.

The Hurricanes took control in the fourth quarter.

A 58-yard touchdown run by Clark – he rushed for 182 yards on 16 carries – gave the ‘Canes a 35-28 lead. The defence then stepped up with a big tackle in the backfield by Marcus Dunphy, followed by a huge quarterback sack by Nathan Condon and Ryan Adams. It proved to be the turning point of the game.

Taking over on downs, the Hurricanes capped a drive with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Hunsley to Justin Murphy, extending the lead to 42-28. A James Court interception sealed the win and a UNB safety rounded out the scoring.

Prior to the match Dollimore expected Holland College and Dalhousie to be his team’s toughest tests this season, but felt the Bombers played well against the Hurricanes, who had routed the UNBSJ Seawolves 62-0 the week before.

“I was quite pleased with the way we moved the ball and we showed some real promise at defence as well,” said Dollimore. “I don’t think Saint John is a pushover because they just beat Dal.”

UNB’s next game is Saturday at Saint John.

Coaching Staff Introduced

We are pleased to introduce the coaching staff of this year’s UNBF Red Bombers:

Mike Dollimore: Head Coach

Coach Mike Dollimore has been part of the football scene in Fredericton and New Brunswick for over 40 years. He joined the UNB Red Bombers in 1970 as a member of offensive line. Mike continued to play and coach with the Red Bombers until 1980 when the program folded. He became involved in the Fredericton Minor Football program and  Football New Brunswick  in 1975 and was part of the group of coaches that started football at Fredericton High School in 1984.  Coach Dollimore was instrumental is  starting many of the elite programs now popular in the province that competed at the national level.

 

Mike has organized several re-unions of the “old” Red  Bombers in an effort to re-instate Football on the UNB Campus at the CIS Level.   Mike was pleased to step into the breach as the Head Coach for the current UNB Red Bomber Football Club of the AFL.

He considers the AFL as “The most exciting football I have ever been involved with in 40 years. You just never know how the game will end , but you know its going to be exciting  down to the last minute.” He was thrilled to be part of the 2009 Championship team.

The return of football to UNB has been a longstanding dream for Mike because he wanted help build a sense of community at UNB and give students a sense of tradition   they could remember for years ,as it was in the past!  With this dream come true,  Coach Dollimore looks forward to another fun-filled year for players and fans alike. He hopes to field a very competitive team for 2011!!

 

Ron Squires: Receivers and Special Teams Coordinator

Ron  was born in Nova Scotia and grew up in the Fredericton area. His Football career began at Fredericton High School playing for the FHS Black Kats. During two years of high school football, Ron played in 2 NBIAA High School Championships. Upon completion of high school, Ron attended Champlain Regional College for two years in Lennoxville, Quebec where he made it to the Bol D’or (Quebec CEGEP Championship). From here Ron went on to play for the Mount Allison Mounties where he was named to the AUS All-Star team and Rookie of the year for the Mounties. During his time with the Mount Allison Mounties, he played in the 1991 Vanier Cup in Toronto.

Ron began his coaching career shortly after University when he began coaching at Fredericton High School. He moved on to coach at Oromocto High School for 8 years as a Receivers coach. During his last three years, he had the role of Offensive Co-ordinator. After his 8 years with OHS, He joined the UNB Red Bombers for the 2010 season.

 

Jeff Taylor: Offensive Coordinator

Jeff began his football career with the Fredericton High School Black Kats. From there he moved on to the New Brunswick Under 19 Provincial Team and taking part in the Canada Cup National Championships.  Jeff has had a n extended coaching career with both FHS and Leo Hayes High both as Offensive and Defensive Coordinator.

Coach  Taylor has held the unique position as “Player Coach”for the Tamaki Lightning of Gridiron New Zealand in 2001 and the Fredericton Gladiators of the Maritime Football League where he has continued that role since 2004.

Jeff was the Red Bomber Receiver Coach in  our championship first season of 2009. He has held the position as Offensive coordinator for the past 2seasons.

 

Neil Cody: Linebackers

Neil is a Dartmouth, NS native who now studying towards a

Master of Business Administration degree  in Sports and Recreation Management at UNB.

Following a High School career as a lIne backer and Defensive lineman with  High School Panthers he represented Nova Scotia on the 99-01 Provincial teams. Neil played one year for the St. mary’s HUskies of the CIS as Linebacker before continuing his football career with the Dartmouth Knights of the Maritime Football League. Neil then turned his attention to coaching as Defensive Coordinator at Lockview High School, NS before joining the Red Bomber Coaching Staff as Linebacker coach in 2010.

 

Jay Thomas  Special Teams and Running Backs

Jay was introduced to football in grade 10 at Leo Hayes High School and is proud to be a member of that schools first graduating class.

He then went on to play for the “Champlain Cougars” in CEGEPin Lennoxville Quebec..It was there he was transformed from a slotback/Tight End into a Full back, a position he still enjoys playing for the Fredericton ”Gladiators” in the MFL.

Jay started coaching football in 2003, with a Bantam team at  Nashwaaksis Middle School and then helped Leo Hayes  High School under Coach Lee Hoyt .

Jay loves the game of football and the “bombers” are pleased to welcome to their coaching staff.

 

Terry McIntyre-Defensive Backs Coach

Coach McIntyre is a native of Truro, Nova Scotia where he played minor and high school football before heading to Mount Allison for a four year career as a defensive back with the football Mounties from 1972-75.

He has been involved in all levels of football in the greater Fredericton area, New Brunswick  and the Maritimes for the past 17 years as a coach, builder and official. He built Capital Area Minor Football into the largest youth football organization in the province. He founded both the Maritime Football League and the Maritime Women’s Football League. In 2001 he received Football Canada’s Bill Leveridge Award for outstanding service to football. He is a Past President of Football New Brunswick. For the past two seasons he has been head coach of the Capital Area Gladiators of the Maritime Football  League. In May 2011 he was inducted onto the Fredericton Sports Wall of Fame for his contribution to the game.

 

Jamie Edwards: Defensive Coordinator

Jamie started his football career getting recruited by Mike Dollimore during grade five to burn off some excess energy. He played two years with Coach Dollimore and did not play again until drug out by Donny Davis in grade 12 to play football play for the BlackKats.  He played that season at DT and was defensive MVP of the Championship game 1996 while also winning Rookie of the Year.  He was then recruited as an OL to Champlain Regional College in Lennoxville.  Jamie started every game for the Champlain Cougars and in his second season won the Bol D’or in 1999.  Jamie enjoyed a 5 year playing career with Bishops playing against many of the top teams and players in the country.  In his third season won the Marcel Lebrun award which signifies outstanding performance and dedication to the Bishops Gaiters program.  Since 2001, the first season of the MFL, he has been a player coach on the defence and in 2003 he took over as the full time defensive coordinator until present.

Jamie  began coaching with the Under 17 program in the spring of 2005 and that fall helped Jeff Taylor with the defence at FHS.  In 2009  he joined the  Red Bombers as Defensive Line coach. jamie is very excited to be entering his second season as the Bombers Defensive coordinator.

 

Jeremy Curnew: Defensive Line

Jeremy Curnew played football for the Fredericton High School Black Kats and the Mount Allison Mounties. He later coached Defensive Line for the Black Kats and then the inaugural Leo Hayes Lions. Jeremy is a teacher and has recently returned to Fredericton with his family after living overseas. If teaching doesn’t work out he’s going to drive the Zamboni for the Montreal Canadiens.

 

Isaac Gorge: Special Teams/ Defensive Backs

John Skillen: Special Teams/ Linebackers

Erik Watson: Offensive Line

Great turnout in tryouts may lead to better results on field

K. Bryannah James – Sports Editor – September 7, 2011 in The Brunswickan

The UNB Red Bombers are ready to kick off the new year on the right foot as over forty players took to the field before school started to train for the upcoming season.

During tryouts, which started the last week of summer and will continue until after the Bomber’s first game, the team focused on individual talents and skill set of each athlete and then slowly began putting offensive systems into effect.

“After the first couple of practices, I’m pleased to see some good athletes and people who’ve played a lot of football,” said head coach Mike Dollimore.

The Bombers, while still only fledglings compared to their established Atlantic Football League (AFL) rivals, are ready to show they’re not just the new kids on the field; they’re here to play and compete at this level.

There’s something that needs to be said in respect to this team too: they’re competing at an AFL level with a wide array of talent sprinkling their lines.

Many of their players are former CIS athletes from other respective universities, football players who’ve heard about the program, or local New Brunswick crop, picked up by the club.

In the case of the Bombers, it’s word of mouth that has recruited most of the team.

“We don’t do a lot of recruiting, scouting. What you’re seeing here is a result of fellow teammates recruiting students or knowing and seeing the program, wanting to come out,” said Dollimore.

Just to give a quick history of the Bombers, they were a force to be reckoned with in the late 1970s and into the 80s – with such legendary CFL stars like Tony Proudfoot on the roster – before the team was disbanded in 1981 due to financial reasons.

“I spent quite a few, number of years trying to bring the program back. We had bout four or five different movements to bring the program back. This was the final option for us and it just seemed to be [the] time,” said Dollimore.

However this year, due to financial reasons and lack of player presence during tryouts, Moncton’s football club will be pulling the plug this year, leaving UNB to play against three instead of four teams this upcoming season.

“With a four-team league, you’ve got a home and away with three teams for six games. It sort of knocks the league out of balance a bit,” said Dollimore.

Without Moncton in the mix both, Dalhousie and Holland College stand to be the Red Bomber’s biggest competition this year.

“I think Dal’s going to be a very strong team. I think they’re all going to have their strengths. Holland College very surprisingly last year put together a very strong and talented team,” said Dollimore.

“And I see no reason why that should be any different. They have some tremendous coaches and offensive coordinators, and Dal has some tremendously seasoned coaches with a large contingency and great history of football in Halifax.”

The Bombers will kick off their season in a few weeks, when they take to the field Saturday, Sept. 17.