Bombers drop the ball against Seawolves

Christopher Cameron – Sports Editor of The Brunswickan

After a week one loss, the Red Bombers were back in action after a bye hoping to get in the win column. The only thing in their way was the UNBSJ Seawolves.

The Bombers knew they were in for a tough test, but did not expect what happened. UNBSJ brought their best as they rolled over the Bombers 30-0 in front of a crowd of 2000, including many Bombers alumni in attendance.

The trouble started early as the Bombers offence struggled to complete any passes. The Seawolves had no trouble stringing together successful plays, as late in the first quarter Justin Blizzard pushed into the end zone for a five-yard touchdown.

UNBSJ kept the pressure coming as they used their strong offensive presence to put together multiple first down plays and with 7:21 remaining in the first half they ended their drive with a seven-yard TD run to go up 14-0.

Going into the half the score stayed at 14-0, but the halftime break was the only break the Red Bombers had from a relentless UNBSJ offence. The Bombers did not help themselves out at all either.

They may as well have handed over the third touchdown as after their possession the Seawolves started their drive on the Bombers 46. A 30-yard run followed by three more runs put the Seawolves in a first down situation on the five yard line.

After the next snap they walked it in for a touchdown, missing the point after leaving the score at 20-0.

The Seawolves finished off their scoring with an early field goal in the fourth quarter and a late touchdown pass with 1:32 remaining in the game.

It was as if the Bombers were not present for the game as they lacked consistency and the ability to adapt when Saint John changed their defensive coverage.

Coach Mike Dollimore says he is not sure why they struggled to put together any offensive plays.

“We sure had trouble getting unraveled,” said Dollimore. “I don’t know what the problem is there, but we have to work on it and sort it out next week. It seems like our passing game cannot connect.”

He did recognize that early on they succeeded on the run plays, but could not keep it going when the Seawolves changed their coverage.

“We came out with a couple nice runs at the start,” he said. “Then they put a lot of pressure on the play. We couldn’t get our running game unraveled in the second half, so we have some work to do.”

Aside from the Bombers now sitting tied for last place with Moncton at 0-2, last in the third quarter receiver Andrew Hubbard had to be helped off the field. Hubbard was hit by two UNBSJ players and remained down for five minutes in pain.

Coach Dollimore was unsure of the severity of the injury, but felt that he should be fine. He continued to say it would be a major hit to their offence if Hubbard is unable to play.

“We were trying to get Andrew the ball more in the second half to make him more of an impact player,” said Dollimore. “We have him out as a wide receiver and can’t get him the ball as much. We would like to get him back in as slot-back into the running game, but that just did not happen after his injury. You can’t lose an impact player like Andrew. It alters and changes your offence.”

Looking to next weekend’s matchup in Moncton, Coach Dollimore knows they have to regroup and get back on track.

“We have to regroup mentally too. I mean, when you suffer a loss like this people get down on themselves,” he said. “We have to come back and look at some of the positive things in the game and just keep their spirits up and work on their technique more than anything.”

In other AFL action on the weekend Holland College dropped the Dalhousie Tigers 23-21.

Tigers drop Red Bombers in AFL season opener

Christopher Cameron – Sports Editor The Brunswickan September 22, 2010

The UNB Red Bombers are pleased with the way they played in their season opener, but not with the result.

Taking on Dalhousie Tigers in the first game of the AFL’s second season, the Bombers came up short losing 22-19.

UNB had the victory in their clutches as they went 19-15 after a pretty reverse play that left the Dalhousie defence baffled. A defence, which held the Bombers most of the game, did not see this coming.

Quarterback Brendan Cornford took the snap handing it off to wide receiver Jeff Madsen.

After two laterals across the field, Cornford had the ball back in his hands and threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Hubbard.

Hubbard gives credit to his offensive teammates in making such a great play.

“(Cornford) made a nice throw,” said Hubbard. “We saw a breakdown in coverage and went for it and it worked out.”

The 1,200 at Chapman Field erupted in approval only to be silenced moments later.

On the kickoff, Tigers star Greg Pelly was ready to upset the fans. Pelly received the ball in the Dalhousie end zone with 6:41 remaining in the fourth quarter taking it 106 yards to the house. Aside from the roar of the Tigers team, every fan was silent as the Bombers trailed again with minimal time left. Hubbard knows Pelly’s play made a significant difference in the result of the game.

“He was electric,” said Hubbard. “That is a game changing play right there and we need to learn how to respond to that and come back stronger.”

Part of the problem the Bombers had in stopping the Dalhousie offense was the great field position on kickoff returns. Head Coach Mike Dollimore knows his kickers Zac Cann and Alden Pezerovic are skilled kickers, but this also posses a problem.

“Part of the problem with our kicking game is we have such phenomenal kickers,” said Dollimore. “If you look at it closely, Alden is outkicking his coverage by about 10-15 yards. The same thing is happening with Zach Cann. We have to be a lot more strategic because when you put the ball in the hands number (Pelly) or (James Green) and you don’t have the coverage down tight on them, they’ll start picking the angles on you. It’s great to have kickers who can boom it, but we have to be more strategic where they put the ball.”

Coming into the game the Tigers were an unknown team in the league as a new team. UNB knew they would be good, but knows they can match any team in the league, that has lots of parody.

“There is a lot of parody in the league. I mean a three-point game, back and forth, back and forth,” said Dollimore. “It was very entertaining to watch from a coaching standpoint.”

“We knew DAL would be tough. They have a tremendous coaching staff and there is a good history of football in Halifax at the high school level. We knew they would have some good solid players out there.”

Dollimore is not worried about the result. They started off last season similarly, losing their opener and eventually winning the Moosehead Cup. He knows there are a few little things that need to be worked on in order to succeed, but knows the team is ready to work on them.

“The league is very tight and we were in the same position last year,” he said. “You make a mistake and you pay for it big time. That happened to both teams. Both teams paid for it. It comes down to a three point ball game and we weren’t able to punch home our field goal in the first quarter and there’s the difference in the game.”

The Red Bombers have a bye week next weekend and will be back in action Oct. 2 against the UNBSJ Seawolves at home.

Phillips screws up storybook ending

Published September 28th by Chris Fox of the Daily Gleaner

The Fredericton-UNB Red Bombers seemed to have John Phillips’s number all night, unless, of course, you don’t count the final minute.

Phillips, the slotback and kicker for the UNBSJ Seawolves, overcame two blocked punts and a blocked extra-point attempt, to kick a game-winning 29-yard field goal with less than a minute left on the clock at Chapman Field Saturday night.

As a result the Seawolves won the first game in the newly-created Atlantic Football League by a score of 16-14 and Phillips became the unlikely hero.

“We haven’t had the chance to polish things and the things we needed to do tonight to finesse our offense or our defence we just weren’t able to do,” said Red Bombers head coach Mike Dollimore.

“To see the offence make the advances that it did a couple of times was really rewarding, though and I do think we have a lot of potential here.”

About 1,500 fans turned out for what was the first university football game contested at UNB since the original Bombers’ team was disbanded nearly 30 years ago. Many of the ex-Bombers were on hand to take in Saturday’s tilt including new UNB president Eddy Campbell who delivered the ceremonial opening kickoff.

Things got of to a slow start with both teams exchanging three and outs, but minutes into the second quarter, Justin Cavan of the Seawolves returned a Red Bombers punt 40 yards for a touchdown and the atmosphere turned electric.

Not to be outdone, UNB quarterback Brendan Cornford engineered a 50-yard drive shortly thereafter that was capped off with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Hubbard, alone in the corner of the end zone. Hubbard had set up the score by catching a 30-yard pass through double coverage three plays prior.

Hubbard in fact, was a fairly busy man on the night, also seeing action as a running back on several reverses.

“He (Hubbard) is a impact player for sure and we were able to hit him early, but of course they doubled up on him,” said Dollimore. “When you have players like that, they will shift over and double team him and it makes it hard, but Andrew is the kind of guy who can break away from some of that stuff.”

After UNB got the score, the teams battled back and forth for most of the quarter, but neither side could put points on the board. With 20 seconds left before half, the Seawolves broke through when Joe Crawford aired out a 30-yard pass to a shockingly open Ryan Morris, who reeled it in for the touchdown.

With much of their momentum seemingly sucked out of them, the Red Bombers struggled to even get a first down for the third quarter and most of the fourth. Then Cornford got hot. He threw five straight completions – three of them were to Hubbard – and took the Red Bombers 55 yards in about four minutes. Josh MacArthur, who had a relatively quiet night on the ground otherwise, then rumbled in from two yards out to put the Red Bombers up by one point with less than five minutes left.

At the time, it seemed like the winning score, but Seawolves’ quarterback Joe Crawford had other ideas. He threw first down passes to Joel Saele and Justin Cavan to set up Phillips for the game-winning field goal.

After the game MacArthur, who played football at Oromocto High School, said win or lose, getting to be on the field for the Atlantic Football League’s first ever game was a thrill.

“I wished we could have pulled out the W tonight, but it was great to be a part of,” he said. “Guys have been trying to get this up and running for years and it was just great and I loved the crowd.”

UNB’s next action will come on Friday, Oct. 16 when the Moncton Raiders come to town. Kick off is set for 7 p.m. at Chapman Field.