Bulldogs find the win column (updated)

It was a tough game against one of the league’s best passing attacks and pass defenses, but despite the 5 ½ hour drive and a short bench in a few positions, the Dogs earned themselves their first win of the year on Saturday defeating the Kingston Privateers 20–16.

“This game was won on the strength of unselfish team work and positive communication between the players,” explained Mathon.

By game time the wind was steady and 20–25 km/hr and directly parallel with the field. The Privateers chose to let the Dogs choose to receive the kick off so they could choose the end to play from. Obviously they wanted the strong wind at their back. With the aid of the wind, the opening kick off was a booming near record 84 yard kick off pushing Bulldogs returner Kwadwo Adusei 19 yards deep in the end zone. Normally such a kick would result in a single point, but Adusei had something else in mind…..so did the return team. They blocked and he unleashed some blazing speed and returned the ball 129 yards for a TD.

With Matt Gordon’s convert the Dogs found themselves leading early in the game for the third time in 4 games this season. The Privateer’s opening drive was controlled by the defense physically and forced a punt. The Dogs’ first offensive play was not what they hoped for as a fumbled ball left the Privateers with possession on the Dogs 27 yard line. An offside penalty kept their offense on the field long enough for QB Dan Kelly to find Chad Murray for their opening score tying the game at 7.

In the second quarter, the Dogs offense controlled the ball and the clock for most of the quarter driving from their own red zone stalling out on the Privateers’ 22 yard line. A penalty on a successful 4th & 3 gamble pushed the Dogs back to the 32 yard line leaving them with 4th and 13. The field goal team was called out and the Matt Gordon kick was just wide and returned to the 20 yardline. With 1:50 left in the half the Privateers drove far enough to try a field goal attempt themselves. Matt Gordon returned that kick up the sideline and found himself with only the kicker to beat, but couldn’t find that last cut to free himself up and ending the half on the 45 yardline.

The third quarter’s opening drive was marred by penalties that allowed the Privateers to drive in to the Dogs red zone where they took the lead 10 – 7 with a successful field goal from 16 yards out. The Dogs found themselves again facing a long field.

“Mick Bilz advised me to look for the substitution for an injured Kingston player and sure enough we saw what we thought was a rookie. So we ran right at him 3 times in a row and it got us out of our end,” said Mathon.

Some half time adjustments were made given the Privateer’s coverage tendencies and took advantage or it by hitting Ford Morland on a deep ball for a 36 yard gain and then again on a 18 yard slant. 2 plays later after running the ball effectively inside the red zone, Wilson found Nick Hallett in the end zone on a 13 yard play action pass to give the Dogs the lead again. The convert was missed and the lead was 13 – 10.

In the middle of the 4th quarter the Dogs saw some bad luck come their way as three of the Privateers’ first down completions came off broken plays. Two plays were near coverage sacks, but Kingston QB Dan Kelly was able to buy enough time scrambling to throw the ball up grabs but 6' 4” receiver Dan Brownlee won the jump ball twice. Dogs defender successfully made a ply on the ball but it was deflected into the hands of the receiver for a 16 yard gain. The Privateers re-claimed the lead with 5 minutes left in the game with a Matt Huntley run score from 5 yards out. The convert was blocked by Brian Samson, holding the Privateers’ lead to 16–13.

On the next drive, the Dogs offense mounted a drive where Wilson hit Andre Landry for a 1st down and rookie receiver Kwadwo Adusei on a scramble for a 17 yard gain. Then Wilson ran a perfect short side option with running back Matt Gordon gaining 13 yards. With just under 2 minutes left in the game, Wilson through a perfectly placed 40 yard bomb to Ford Morland giving the Dogs a 20–16 lead after Matt Gordon’s successful convert.

Dave Wilson’s experience at QB both in the 2 ½ years at the pivot spot for the Dogs and at Ottawa University showed itself this weekend. There were exciting scrambles, some command of the offense and simple play making that made a huge difference.

“Dave’s experience showed itself today and his comfort level developed as the game wore on and that is why we became stronger in the 4th quarter. The Offensive line again only gave up one sack, but it was aided by a fumbled snap,” added Mathon.

It was up to the defense to close the game out. Kelly found his favorite receiver again for a 20 yard gain and while he was trying to find a way to gain more yards by juking side to side on defender Russ Burns, young linebacker Anthony Wood was bearing down on him from behind and unleashed probably the biggest hit of the game from which he did not recover and had to be helped off the field and did not return. A couple of plays later the game ended with the Dogs defense on the field with the save.

Defensively, Anthony Gauthier was very busy as he recorded 7 ½ tackles and a batted ball, while defensive back Matt Bahm, Randy Bilodeau led the defensive backfield in tackles with 5 ½ and 5 tackles respectively. Justin Boufford also had a great outing recording 4 ½ tackles, a sack, 4 hurries and a fumble recovery. His sack was shared with Russ Burns who was on a corner blitz and came completely unaccounted for. Rookie defensive lineman Kris Dicht had a great showing as well playing the whole game at nose tackle and recording his first sack as well.

This game marked the return of Mick Bilz to the team as back up quarterback and saw some time at the slot position yesterday. Bilz had to end his running back career because of a knee injury he suffered 3 years ago. Head Coach Marc Mathon closed the interview by saying this about his long time All-Star running back.

“Mick was invaluable yesterday. When I’m coaching I have many players telling me what’s open and what will work, but Mick was doing that for me and basically cut off some of the stuff coming from players trying to help, which allowed me to concentrate. Mick conveyed his observations and made several play suggestions that contributed significantly to this win. It’s nice to see Mick play an important role on this team again”.