Manitoba opens day two with its first tournament win versus New Brunswick
To open the second day of action at the 2014 Football Canada Cup on Wednesday July 9, Manitoba took a 37-0 halftime lead on route to a 54-0 win against New Brunswick.
Both teams opened day two’s action looking to bounce back after dropping their day 1 Canada Cup games on Sunday.
New Brunswick’s offense struggled to find its offensive rhythm throughout most the contest while Manitoba’s rhythm came early.
Following a NB 2-and-out, Manitoba scored on their two opening possessions. A 7-yard Brandon Sitch touchdown run put Manitoba on the board.
Quarterback Will Reimer connected on four opening half touchdown passes. First he found Sam Blakely on an 11-yard strike followed by touchdown passes to Bradon Sitch, Kai Madsen and Liam Grace.
A Trevor Wright rushing touchdown opened the second half scoring to give Manitoba a comfortable 44-0 lead.
Leading 54-0 following an 18-yard field goal and Tinaye Muza touchdown run, New Brunswick got new life sparked by a Travis Branscombe interception which gave NB the ball at the Manitoba 27-yard line. New Brunswick began to finds it’s offensive rhythm in the dying minute of play but was unable to score before the clock ran out.
Manitoba head coach Dan Washnuk was very pleased at his team’s performance helping Manitoba to its first tournament win.
“We were really happy with the way that our quarterback Will Reimer bounced back from that loss the other day. He had a phenomenal game today – he threw the ball really well, was moving well and made great reads. He kind of quarterbacks us right into that great start.”
“It was bolstered by another great day from our defense. Our defensive line played great. He had Cody Cranston #21 playing cornerback for us was lined up across from New Brunswick’s Josh Hicks #88 who’s a phenomenal receiver. Cody was able to handle him even late into the game. I was really proud of the defensive play today.”
Still searching for their first win, NB head coach Chris Hopkins was happy with the resiliency of his squad.
“One again we’ve got a lot of heart, we showed how much character we have. We finished the game as hard as we could and made a couple of nice plays by the end including the interception by Branscombe. [At the end of the game] we took a couple at shots to [receiver Josh] Hicks in there.”
“We’re not done yet, we’ve got another game on Saturday that we’re really looking forward to – we put it all out on the line and you never know what’s going to happen. I couldn’t be prouder of my guys I expect them to put it all on the line on Saturday.”
Game 5 Players of the game
NB Manitoba
Offensive #88 REC, Joshua Hicks #2 QB, Will Reimer
Defensive #8 DB, Travis Brascocombe #99 DL, Tristan Bredin
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