Seawolves spoil Bombers’ homecoming

Published Monday October 3rd, 2011 By CHRISTOPHER CAMERON For The Daily Gleaner

After being routed 33-7 by the UNB Red Bombers the previous weekend, the UNBSJ Seawolves spoiled the Bombers’ homecoming game Saturday with a 14-7 victory at BMO Centre.

Prior to the Atlantic Football League game, the Red Bombers retired Tony Proudfoot’s No. 24 jersey, hanging it below the scoreboard at BMO Centre. They also awarded the scholarship in Proudfoot’s name to UNB slotback Pat Forbes.

Once the game got underway, both teams struggled to have any offensive success through a scoreless first quarter.

The Bombers’ offence started to click late in the second quarter. Starting on their own 35-yard line, UNB quarterback Brendan Cornford completed an 18-yard pass to Forbes and another to wide receiver Andrew Guest to push the ball into Seawolves territory at the 45-yard line.

Nick Lane-McEachern ran the ball to the 34 on the next play and, with a five-yard penalty to the Seawolves, the Red Bombers were in a position to score.

However, Cornford’s next pass attempt was intercepted by Justin Mousek of UNBSJ.

“Offensively, surprisingly, we moved the football,” said Red Bombers head coach Mike Dollimore. “We moved it on the ground to the outside better and we moved it in the air, but we have to give them credit. They really prepared for our inside running game that we had last week. We ended up not being able to finish up any offensive drives, shooting ourselves in the foot with either an interception or a fumble.”

Beginning on their 27-yard line, the Seawolves put together a scoring drive when Isaiha Nice ran for 23 yards and, after a two-yard loss, UNBSJ quarterback Trevor Harrison threw to Joel Searle, who took the ball from his own 48-yard line to UNB’s five.

After two failed attempts to get into the end zone, Harrison pushed the ball in himself and the point after gave the Seawolves a 7-0 lead.

After the Bombers fumbled the ball away in Seawolves territory, the Saint John squad put up some insurance points after starting near midfield. Alex Peabody’s 56-yard touchdown run gave the Seawolves a 14-0 halftime lead.

The Red Bombers recovered a fumble on the UNBSJ 21-yard line early in the fourth quarter, but fumbled the ball away two plays later to waste the opportunity.

UNB finally got on the board with 4:11 remaining. Cornford hooked up with Cody Stewart for a 25-yard pass and, following a UNBSJ offside penalty, Derek Broad caught consecutive passes from Cornford to get the Bombers on the board, but the Seawolves held on for the 14-7 win.

“The film of last week’s game wasn’t so pretty,” UNBSJ head coach Dave Grandy said. “We just got the guys to work harder in practice this week and work on our fundamentals. Last week we were caught a little off guard by their offence and they’ve got some great receivers out there. Today, we ended up with four interceptions and two fumble recoveries and really hurt their offence.”

Although Dollimore would have preferred a victory, he was pleased with his defence and knows his offense was unlucky on certain drives.

“The defence was just swarming,” he said. “They (defence) were energized, they blitzed well, they tackled well, they were in the backfield on a lot of the plays. There are a lot of positive things in this game. We just didn’t get the win.”

The Red Bombers are idle until hosting the Dalhousie Tigers on Oct. 15.

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.”

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.

Last minute heroics clinch third place

Christopher Cameron – Sports Editor of the Brunswickian November 3, 2010 9:43 AM ADT

The Red Bombers went into their last game of the season with a playoff spot locked up, but third place on the line.

Defeating the Holland College Hurricanes meant facing Dalhousie Tigers in the first round of the playoffs while a loss meant playing the undefeated UNBSJ Seawolves.

The UNBF Red Bombers were able to pull off the win, but by no means was it an easy victory.

The Bombers came out in the first half with a TD pass by Pat Forbes followed by a TD run from QB Jeff Madsen running the ball into the end zone himself. The early first half offence from Holland College was no match for UNB as they mustered seven points, with the first half ending 13-7.

In the second half, the Bombers opened up the half as the receiving team. They kicked off their first drive on the Hurricanes 55. Forbes took a pass to the 37 yard line, but after another run and a penalty the Bombers had to punt the ball away.

Their special teams stepped up allowing the Hurricanes to get no return, holding them inside their own five yard line. The Bombers were able to get a safety after no run from the Hurricanes to put themselves up 15-7.

After UNB’s next possession did nothing and they punted the ball back to the Hurricanes, the Bombers holes on defence from previous games became evident again.

Holland College kicked off their possession on their own 40, but after a run to the Bombers 52, a timeout was called. Another run play from the Hurricanes found the hole and Phillimon Rolle took it to the house for a 52-yard TD run.

Head coach Mike Dollimore knows this is where consistency is needed on the team.

“We were inconsistent throughout the whole game as was the other team,” said Dollimore. “We had moments of glory on both offence and defence, but faltered for awhile and got ourselves in a bad situation.”

With the Hurricanes now within one, the Bombers bench became silent. The third quarter ended at 15-14 for the Bombers, with their most important quarter of the regular season remaining.

The Hurricanes came out firing and with ten minutes remaining in the game a pass TD from the Bombers 20 yard line gave the Holland College faithful something to cheer about, putting the team up 21-15.

Both teams were unable to convert on any offensive chances trading possessions until, with 1:13 left in the game, the Bombers had the ball. It was now or never and the arm of Brendan Cornford in for an injured Madsen, who sprained his finger at the end of the first half, had the game on his shoulders.

Starting their drive on the Hurricanes 39, a twelve yard pass to Andrew Guest kicked off the drive. They followed with a 17 yard run to the ten for another first down. A short gain by Eric Smith gave Cornford 18 seconds and ten yards to win the game.

Off the snap it looked like all the receivers were covered, but Forbes got Cornford’s attention at the back of the end zone. Cornford completed the pass under pressure and the Bombers had tied the game. The point after was good to put the Bombers up 22-21.

“It was unbelievable, I don’t even know what to say,” said Cornford. “I saw his hands at the back of the end zone. I trusted him, let it go and he caught it.”

Two incomplete passes from the Hurricanes and the game was in the books. Dollimore is happy with the result, but wishes the win had of come easier.

“We hung in there and Cornford came in and made a phenomenal play at the end of the game, as did Pat Forbes in catching it. It was a good win to come away with, but it was a tough game.”

The Bombers will now take on Dalhousie the weekend of Nov. 13 with final time to be announced. Dollimore is not concerned as much with the plays on the field but more with who will be making them.

“We have to heal, we have some key injuries still,” he said. “We always come away from games like this with a bunch of injuries, nagging injuries and some of them serious. We have to heal and get our key players healthy.”

In other AFL action UNBSJ destroyed Moncton 38-0.

Mustangs drop third straight

Published Monday October 11th, 2010 Times & transcript staff

Dan LeBlanc of the Moncton Junior Mustangs runs for a 23-yard gain during an Atlantic Football League game against the University of New Brunswick Fredericton Red Bombers Saturday at Rocky Stone Memorial Field. The Red Bombers won 24-3 to improve their record to 1-2. The Mustangs dropped to 0-3. Moncton visits the Dalhousie Tigers Oct. 23.

Moncton junior football team hosts UNB Fredericton tonight

Published Saturday October 9th, 2010 By Sean Hatchard of the Times & Transcript

The Atlantic Football League regular season has only reached the halfway mark, but these are already desperate times for the Moncton Junior Mustangs.

The Mustangs have started the season at 0-2 and considering teams only play a six-game schedule, they will need to right the ship quickly.

An opportunity comes tonight when Moncton hosts the University of New Brunswick Fredericton Red Bombers at 6 p.m. at Rocky Stone Memorial Field.

The Red Bombers are also 0-2 on the season and will also be looking for their first win of the season.

“This is a huge game for us. With such a short schedule, almost every game has playoff implications. I would think the loser of (tonight’s) game has an almost impossible road to make the playoffs after starting 0-3,” Mustangs head coach Peter Comeau said last night.

“I expect Fredericton to be in the same frame of mind as we are. This is a time of desperation and we both want to get a win and keep our playoff hopes alive. It should be two teams putting it all out there and trying to get their first win under their belt.”

The UNB Saint John Seawolves top the five-team league at 2-0, followed by the Dalhousie Tigers (2-1), Holland College Hurricanes (2-1) and then both Moncton and UNB Fredericton at 0-2.

The Mustangs opened the season with a 44-33 loss to Holland College on the road, blowing a lead in the final minutes, and were hammered 53-13 by the Seawolves in their last game two weeks ago.

The Red Bombers lost 22-19 to Dalhousie and 30-0 to the Seawolves.

“Fredericton is a team in their second year in the league and has the same coaching staff,” said Comeau. “I expect them to have a strong running game and they have some talented receivers with speed they’ll try to get the ball to.”

Comeau is expecting a much better effort from his club than it showed in its last outing.

“I told our players on Tuesday that our game basically starts tonight in practice. We’ve got to be better at being mentally prepared and we definitely have to be prepared to sacrifice ourselves physically. We need to play more blue-collar football,” the coach said.

“We also have to be much better at special teams. We’ve given up valuable real estate on punt and kickoff returns and we’ve got to come prepared to play better in that part of the game. If we do that, I think we can be successful.”

UNB Saint John hosts Holland College on Monday. Dalhousie has a bye this week.

Washburn: the Bombers then and now

Christopher Cameron – Sports Editor of The Brunswickan - September 29, 2010

It was the fall of 1978 when Oromocto native, Mike Washburn took to the football field for tryouts for the UNB Red Bombers.

Already in his third year of university, Washburn had no prior football experience, but knowing a few players and the coach he figured he would tryout. Although not much was expected from him, he was a natural and an instant success on the field. He credits his athletic abilities to his dad.

“I was pretty lucky my dad was a gym teacher,” said Washburn. “I also played a lot of hockey, soccer, tennis and volleyball. When you do that you start to become fairly coordinated. Playing hockey allowed me to be used to the contact and I played softball so my hand-eye coordination was pretty good. I took some of those skill sets and incorporated them on the football field.”

Washburn continued to play for the Bombers into his fourth and fifth years of university, when he was drafted into the CFL by the BC Lions. He played four years in the league, playing a year with the Lions and three with the Montreal Alouettes, then the Montreal Concordes.

After suffering a neck injury, he returned home in 1986, ready to start another life. When he returned, UNB was “Bomber-less” as the program was cut after his last season. A few years before he finished with the Red Bombers, there were talks of dropping the program, and that was what had happened. Although in recent years when the wrestling team and others were cut there were uproars, Washburn says back then there was no students arguing football leaving campus.

“When they cut the program it was when exams were finishing in April or May, so there was not a lot of student body around the university,” he said. “There was no groundswell against it. If it had of been done over the Christmas holidays then it would not have happened possibly. There was always a good feeling with the football program on campus.”

Although the club was sitting around a .500 record, it was generally known amongst the players, coaches and community that the program had to improve or it needed to be stopped.

That being said, Bombers football is back on campus. It is no longer a varsity sport, but with the newly formed Atlantic Football League there is now a team to rally behind. Washburn believes this is great for UNB, the students and the Fredericton community.

“I think it is really good, right down to the grassroots level,” said Washburn. “I think that if people really drilled down and looked at what football will do from a commerce perspective there are kids at UNB right now that would not be there without this club football team. It is a step in the right direction. It is positive for the whole brand of athletics and academia at the university.”

This weekend the Bombers will take on the UNBSJ Seawolves in the campus matchup. This will be the first all UNB homecoming football game in the history of the school. Aside from this being on homecoming weekend, this is also the first time these teams have met since last year’s league final. Washburn sees this as being a momentous game for the league and UNB homecoming history.

“It is going to fun,” he said. “I imagine the crowd will be a good size and the neat thing about the football crowd is unless it’s pouring rain, you’re still going to have a big crowd. People just like to go and take part and get into it. Both teams will want to win that game with all the stories surrounding it being on homecoming and the rematch of last years final. It should be a good game all around.”

Bombers up to the challenge

Josh Fleck – The Brunswickan - September 8, 2010

Last year the AFL faced questions concerning how a three team league would work out, but after a successful first season the league is back and now bigger and better.

During the 2009 season, the eventual Moosehead Cup Champion UNB Red Bombers struggled in their regular season posting a 1-3 record. The Bombers stepped up their play in the playoffs making it past the Moncton Junior Raiders to face the undefeated UNBSJ Seawolves in the championship game. The Bombers defeated the Seawolves by a narrow 3-1 margin, with a final minute scare when the UNBSJ kicker missed a field goal wide to lose the game.

If the Red Bombers intend to be champions again this year, they will have to pull up their socks since the league is expanding. Joining the AFL this season are Holland College and Dalhousie University, pushing the league to a total of five teams. With the league expanding, having one more team than the AUS football conference, Commissioner Pat O’Brien has high expectations for the success of this season.

“I believe that the number of players that each team has will be great,” said O’Brien. “There were players in the stands last year who didn’t know how the league would fair, but now that they have seen the level of play, they will probably be more willing to participate. Adding those teams makes the league more interesting.”

Preparing for an extended season and more teams, second year Bombers cornerback Brian Gilliland does not feel the weight of being reigning champions on his shoulders.

“There is absolutely no added pressure when you are trying to repeat as champions,” said Gilliland. “We have the talent on this team to win it all and I would be disappointed if we were not there in the finals again. I am really looking forward to playing the Seawolves because I have played with a lot of their players growing up, so there has been some friendly jawing going on.”

The main concern defensive backs coach Terry McIntyre has for the upcoming season is not knowing what to expect from the Dalhousie and Holland College offences.

“We roughly know what to expect from Saint John and Moncton,” said McIntyre, “but the expansion teams are different. Dal is the real wild card because of the coaching staff they brought in, as well as, the numbers they are getting for try outs.”

The Bombers kick off the AFL season on September 18 playing host to the Dalhousie Tigers at 6 p.m. on Chapman Field.

Season Two of the Atlantic Football League – Expansion to PEI and NS

The season kick-off is only a few weeks away and the new look Atlantic Football League is getting ready for year two.  New teams in PEI (Holland College Hurricanes) and Nova Scotia (Dalhousie Tigers) have now joined the league raising the number of teams to five.   The new season opens for the Red Bombers on Saturday, September 18 when Dalhousie visits Fredericton.

ID Camp

There will be an ID Camp for individuals interested in playing for the RedBombers in the 2010 season. The camp will take place on Saturday April 3 from 3 -5pm at the Chapman Field Sports Dome. If you are interested in playing for the Bombers this is a great opportunity to come out and get noticed by the coaching staff early.

If you would like more information, or to indicate your interest email webmaster@redbombers.com

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