Bulldogs Insider #7- The Longhorn Connection

Each week Bulldogs wide receiver and BayToday.ca Sports Writer Matt Gordon will be giving you an insightful look at the North Bay Bulldogs. Enjoy!

Match up: Kingston Privateers (0-5) vs. North Bay Bulldogs (2-3) 5:00 p.m. Saturday @ West Ferris S.S.

After a very tough loss in week 6 the North Bay Bulldogs will host their third straight game in North Bay when the Kingston Privateers come to town this weekend. The teams have already met once this year in week 2, with the Bulldogs winning 31-6. Although the Privateers are winless in the 2009 campaign they recently got some midseason relief in the form of 4 former Oakville Longhorn players.

The Privateers looked like their entire season might be in jeopardy when the team decided not to make their scheduled trip to Sault Ste. Marie as they were only going to have 16 players dressed for the game. Fearing injuries due to fatigue, the Privateers notified the Steelers that they would have to forfeit the game.

After hearing word of the forfeit many around the league wondered if the franchise would be able to continue considering they had several long trips remaining on their schedule. However, soon after the missed game, Privateer’s veteran receiver Will Thompson lured some of his former teammates to come aid the team.

Thompson is known as “Wilvis” due to his act as an Elvis Presley impersonator was a member of the Oakville Longhorns during their run of 11 straight NFC championships. Joining him in Kingston will be 4 other former Longhorns including NFC all-time passing leader Mark Demerling. Demerling holds pretty much every career statistic for quarterbacking in the NFC having started his career sometime in the mid 80’s. A stay at home pocket passer, Demerling’s longevity is due to his ability to get rid of the football very quickly. With Demerling at the pivot position and some very talented receivers, the Privateers will most certainly present a good test for the Bulldogs defensive backs on Saturday.

With the mid season addition of these players to the Kingston roster and the folding of the Longhorn franchise this off season it brings to mind the connections to the Longhorns around the league as well as some memories from past games.

The Bulldogs themselves have two players on the 2009 roster that once played with Oakville. Fullback and offensive lineman Ryan McGowan was a Longhorn when he first joined the NFC in 2002. Linebacker Brad Kerr, who made a brief appearance with the Bulldogs this season, played for the Longhorns in 1999 and 2000 before returning to North Bay.

That 2000 season was extremely unique as the league featured only 4 teams that year. There were the Longhorns who were defending championship number 7 in row, the Sudbury Spartans, the Sault Ste. Marie Storm and the Bulldogs who were returning to the NFC after a two year absence.

The Bulldogs were an extremely young team that season made up mainly of players who had left high school within the previous 3 years. With a rookie head coach in Marc Mathon the team set out to battle against the Longhorns 3 times in the regular season, losing on each occasion.

However, the players that made up that team were also the same group that led the team to a 13-4 record over the next two seasons and the league semi-final in each year. Led offensively by a 21 year old Dave Wilson, the 2000 edition of the Bulldogs learned many important football lessons playing against the Longhorns that year.

In a rain soaked Hall of Fame game in Sudbury, the Bulldogs and Longhorns played to a 9-6 final in which rookie defensive end Anthony Gauthier had a 75 yard fumble return for a touchdown. Gauthier, who was 19 at the time, went on to play at Bishops University and is now the Bulldogs defensive captain and middle linebacker. After losing by more than 40 points in the first game of the year against the Longhorns, the team learned that they did not need to be intimidated by the NFC champs.

In the final match-up between the teams, Wilson, who had been knocked into Tuesday in a game against the Soo, was forced to sit out. Literally, he got hit so hard that he thought it was Tuesday not Saturday. Rumour has it that Wilson’s future father-in-law, long time Scollard Hall football coach Mike Doyle, had to drive Wilson out of town the next Saturday to prevent him from playing against the Longhorns.

With Wilson on the mend, this reporter/player was forced to go under center against the mighty Longhorns. I was already on edge when I made the walk to center field for the coin toss with the other captains. It was at this point that long time Longhorn defensive end Karl Kustor pronounced that he was probably old enough to be my father and he was more than likely correct.

With Kerr still playing linebacker for Oakville and current Bulldog defensive back Scott Brown as my number one receiver we were able to keep the score deadlocked at 4-4 going into halftime. However, the lesson learned in that game was the experience more often than not wins out in the game of football.

In the second half the Longhorns stacked up against the run and forced us to pass. I managed to throw 2 touchdown passes in that half; the only problem was that they were thrown to Longhorn defensive players. That was my first foray on the offensive side of the ball for the Bulldogs; needless to say I was sent back to play defensive back until 2006!