FCC2018: New Brunswick defeats Nova Scotia in Maritime battle

New Brusnwick gave Head Coach Chris Hopkins a parting present on Sunday at the 2018 Football Canada Cup by defeating Nova Scotia 14-9 at Shouldice Park in Calgary, Alberta.

With the win, New Brunswick finishes seventh in the tournament while Nova Scotia ends up eighth.

Quarterback Jordan Rawlines scored a touchdown to open the scoring for New Brunswick. He would tally his second major of the game in the second quarter.

At halftime, New Brunswick led Nova Scotia 14-0.

Riley Felix got Nova Scotia on the scoreboard with a touchdown reception in the third quarter. However, the comeback attempt wasn’t enough for Nova Scotia.

Offensive Players of the Game were Oliver Longpre (New Brunswick) and Allan Young (Nova Scotia).  Defensive Players of the Game were Lucas Cormier (New Brunswick) and Jacob Yazbek (Nova Scotia).

“It’s pretty tough to put into words; it’s been a long time coming,”  commented an emotional New Brunswick Head Coach Chris Hopkins of his last game as part of the program.  “I have been with the program eight years and we brought the program back in 2011.”

“2014 was the drop dead date and I think we led up 300 points in the tournament.  We were pretty much a pushover.  For us to come this far playing a game like this, we knew we had to do things differently but to get a win like this at the end, it’s special and it’s something I will remember for the rest of my life.”

As for Nova Scotia, the deficit in the first half was too much of a hole to climb out of against a motivated New Brunswick squad.

“A big thing was just our intensity coming out of the gates right off the bat,” said Nova Scotia Head Coach Bryce Fisher.  “You can’t win a football game when you are only playing two quarters.”

“I’m proud of our guys and the way they prepped from January on.  They battled in the second half; we tried to make it a close game in the second half  and I can’t say enough about those guys – NB how the way they prep and hype those guys.  Chris Hopkins – the way he kind of led out.  I wish him luck going on and going forward.  With our guys, I hope they take this in and come out strong and ready to play for the championship next year.”

Post-game Interview with Chris Hopkins

Post-game Interview with Bryce Fisher

This post is also available in: French