Bulldogs look to bounce back versus Steelers

The North Bay Bulldogs hope to get into the win column this week when they face the Soo Steelers. After a disappointing performance last week against the Sarnia Imperials, the win by Sarnia was the first in team history, the Bulldogs are hoping to bounce back with a solid performance on both sides on the ball. Head Coach Marc Mathon is not worried about his team dwelling on last week, and is hoping the loss will serve as motivation.

“We have a lot of angry individuals on this team," Mathon said bluntly.

"They are not necessarily angry at Sarnia, and they are not necessarily angry at each other. I think there is a bit of anger inside that I hope will transform into good, positive impacting, football energy on Saturday."

Mathon was quick to point out that Sarnia was able to capitalize on the holes they found in the North Bay defence, but feels that a film session earlier in the week allowed his players to see where the problems were.

“Sarnia found holes in the defence, some bad habits that were developed were exposed. But we had a great film session, and the guys saw where the problems were, they also acknowledged what the correct action needs to be. We didn’t hold back punches when we exposed who did not execute their responsibilities. And rather than defend and make excuses they acknowledged their mistakes,” said Mathon.

Quarterback Jason Ferreira who returned to the starting position last week knows the team has much to improve on. Ferreira knows that due to falling behind early last week the team was forced to pass more, but he hopes this week they will be able to have a more balanced attack and feels that any early season rust will be gone.

“We expected to be a little rusty out of the gate. We were missing some key people last week and we get them back this week and overall we will be able to bounce back from the effort last week. We played poorly and we were still in that game for three and a half quarters. We’ll be alright and we got a good week of work in and will be ready for Saturday. We’re looking to get Sterling more involved this week and hopefully we can come out and be successful both running and throwing,” said Ferreira.

As far as the rivalry between the two teams goes, coach Mathon feels as though every game between the two is a different story, but knows that his players have a lot of respect for their opponents.

“The rivalry between the Soo and North Bay is more of a ‘what are they going to come with this week’ rivalry. I don’t have any inflammatory suggestions to make about the Soo. They finished high in the standings last year. They earned it and they have the respect of our guys.” The Coach also knows that this is a key early season game, “it is a tremendous opportunity for us this weekend to play well. And to get us to 1-1 and to set them back to 0-2, it is a great opportunity that we have,” said Mathon.

This weekend’s game will be played Saturday June 9th at the Trojan Alumni Complex at West Ferris. Kickoff for the game is 5 p.m.