The Prince George Maroon Marauders held back the Prince George Crimson Tide, as expected, and won Saturday's Prince George Minor Football Association atom division championship.
Their 36-24 win in the final at Masich Place Stadium kept the Marauders' undefeated string intact, but it was no cakewalk.
Having shut out the Tide 29-0 three weeks ago in a regular season game, some of the Marauders were taken by surprise at how close the guys in red came to handing them their first loss of the season. Marauder running back Dayton Pitman had no such sense of security. He knew it was going to be a struggle.
"They played a very good game, I expected a hard game," said Pitman, who scored three touchdowns to lead the Marauders. "It takes hard work and lots of effort and it feels good to win. We just played hard and gave it our all."
Leading 18-12 lead at halftime, the Marauders were left with no option to let up on the throttle because the Crimson Tide was keeping it close. Bradyn Johnson had just cut the gap to six points with his second touchdown of the game when the Tide defence came up big and stopped Matthew Norberg at midfield, forcing a fumble. But the loose ball was recovered by Pitman and a few plays later Miguel Marques took off on a 45-yard romp into the end zone.
Sean Minhas made it closer with a one-yard scoring run, but time ran out on the TIde's season.
"It was a very good final, they gave us a run right to the end and we weren't expecting that, they came a long ways," said Marauders head coach Nilton Marques. "Our guys got a bit nervous in the middle there and they came off the field saying they were hurt or had a stomach ache, but they were all just nervous."
The Marauders (7-0) will advance to the B.C. Community Football Association provincial playoffs, Nov. 22 in Kamloops.
Tide head coach Jessey Minhas congratulated his troops after the game, telling his group of seven-to-nine-year-olds they should be proud of what they accomplished on the field Saturday.
"The kids came out and played them hard," said Minhas. "At the end they just had more horses than us but they gave them a good game. The season is ending on a high, it was a great year."
The skies opened up in a steady drizzle for the peewee final and the Vanderhoof Vikings had no trouble defeating the Prince George Marauders 57-6. Bridger Jensen and Justin Gulbranson each scored three touchdowns while Taedyn Jacobsen scored twice. Kayden Young and Brendon McKee also ran the ball into the end zone. Judah Keryluik had the lone Prince George touchdown.
In the junior bantam final, Braden Reed carried for three touchdowns while Andrew Johnson and Max Vohar each contributed two TD runs to lead the Prince George Axemen to a 50-18 win over the Vanderhoof Vikings.
"I was pretty happy with the way it turned out," said the 13-year-old Reed, who had two quarterback sacks. "I really liked how we got low for the tackles and tackled as a team."
With field conditions deteriorating to mush in the rain, the Axemen used their size and speed to wreak havoc, breaking tackles for long gains. As good their running game was, the Axemen defence had no problems dealing with the Vikings' blocking schemes. Led by Reed at defensive end and middle linebacker Terrance Vohar, the Axemen spent a lot of time trapping ball carriers in the backfield and forcing quarterback Kostas Bach to scramble out of the pocket to avoid tackles.
Vanderhoof had just four reserves for the game and Vikings running back/defensive back Coleson Jensen said there was no doubt the extra bodies played a role in the outcome.
"We played pretty hard but that made quite a difference, it's hard playing ironman most of the time," said Jensen. "Their defensive line kept on breaking in and their runs are nice. They have some big players and lots of speed."
Jensen accounted for all the Vikings points. He scored on a 22-yard sweep late in the first half, set up by a 29-yard pass play from Bach to Addison Miller-Gauthier. Jensen also scored on a 70-yard kickoff return late in the game.
"We started off pretty well on offence, we ran the ball well and everybody made their blocks and defensively we were tough, with a lot of pressure," said Axemen head coach Tommy Heinzelman. "We could have been a lot better on special teams. On offence, we had some of our backups go in and they weren't 100 per cent sure of the plays and we'll have to work on that in practice."
The Axemen, who have won all six games this season, will have the better part of a month to work out the bugs in their passing game and get ready to play the Interior conference champion in a one-game playoff Nov. 22 in Kamloops for the BCCFA provincial title.
