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CONGRATULATIONS MIDGET REDMEN!
2009 VMFL CHAMPIONS
Nanaimo News Bulletin
Redmen capture championship with 3-0 win
News Bulletin
Greg Sakaki - Nanaimo News Bulletin
Published: November 30, 2009 3:00 PM
Updated: December 01, 2009 9:26 AM
Two great football teams clashed on Sunday, and neither was willing to give an inch. But in the end it was the Nanaimo Redmen who captured the Vancouver Mainland Football League’s midget championship Sunday in Richmond with a 3-0 victory over the North Delta Longhorns.
“Pretty much as the score indicated, it was quite a battle,” said Sean Roden,
the team’s coach.
Redmen safety Cole Samson kicked a 28-yard field goal midway through the third quarter and the red team’s defence made it stand up.
“They played the game of their lives, which was pretty much what they needed to do,” Roden said. “[The Longhorns] went for it a lot on third-and-short and we stopped them several times. The defence came up huge.”
Samson also had two interceptions and was a physical force.
Despite the score, Roden said both teams were able to move the football a little bit. The Redmen’s first offensive play of the game, a flea flicker from Brendon Lattimer to Whitman Tomusiak, got Nanaimo all the way to the 15-yard line but Samson’s field-goal attempt ended up striking the upright.
The game continued in that vein, with the Redmen missing another field goal while blocking an attempt by the Longhorns.
North Delta couldn’t get in scoring range in the fourth quarter thanks in part to a clutch punting performance by Barry Aitken, who was booting the football over the Longhorns’ heads. By the dying seconds of the game, North Delta was forced to throw up long-bomb prayers that failed to connect. Time ran out and Nanaimo had its first championship since winning the provincial midget title in 1995.
Roden said the scene on the sideline was “complete pandemonium” as time expired.
“Even me – I’m usually pretty reserved and I just lost it,” said the coach. “There was a lot of tears and there was a lot of screaming and parents flooding onto the field from out of the stands. It was really something else.”
He’s happy both for longtime Redmen athletes and for ex-high school players who can claim a championship, too. The entire minor football association, Roden said, can share in the victory.
“It’s sort of a new era in Football Nanaimo,” he said.
Winning a championship doesn’t mean the end of the season. Nanaimo now represents the VMFL in the B.C. final this Sunday (Dec. 6) in Langley, where the Redmen will take on the Chilliwack Giants, champions of the Valley Community Football League.
It’s going to be a fun week of practice for the Redmen.
“We’ve got a lot of happy players,” Roden said. “We still have another week, but they are the champions of the league and that’s a huge accomplishment.”
GRID BITS … Samson, Tomusiak, linebacker Lukas Miner, quarterback Alex Beaudoin, defensive end Matt Boyce, lineman Ricky Keen and tailback Jimi Parmar were all named Sunday to the VMFL’s Star Bowl all-star team. Samson was selected as the league's defensive player of the year.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com
FOOTBALL NANAIMO IS PROUD OF OUR ALUMNI
Nick Hinchliffe played with Football Nanaimo from a Junior Bantam through to the Midget level, until he left to follow his other ambition.
Check out his accomplishment:
Way to go Nick!
Former Nanaimo Redmen Carter is named
CIS's top defensive player
(Click here for the entire article)
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