BY JOHN DECOSTE
Kings County Advertiser/Register
It came a week later than expected, but the Central Kings Gators and NKEC Titans are both off to good starts in provincial high school football – albeit by vastly different results.
After the scheduled first week of the season was postponed by Hurricane Earl, action in the NSSAFFL got underway this past weekend with local games in Wolfville and Canning.
At Acadia Sept. 10, Central Kings got a huge game from tailback Iain MacMillan in a 29-0 win over Auburn Drive. MacMillan finished with an unofficial 280 yards on 22 carries and a pair of rushing touchdowns for the Gators, who had 440 yards of total offense.
Quarterback Mike Stevens completed seven of 20 passes for 113 yards and threw two touchdown passes, both to fullback Robert Priestnall. Stevens might have had even better stats if not for some dropped passes.
Defensively for the Gators, Mitch Best had a huge game with 16 solo tackles. Jacob Gee, Todd Dow, Nick Lamb and Brandon Martin finished with seven tackles each.
The season opener for both teams was a sloppy one: Auburn Drive fumbled four times and was intercepted twice; the Gators fumbled four times, though they were able to recover three.
“All in all, it wasn’t a bad start,” C.K. head coach Larry Priestnall said Sept. 13. “We started off slow (the Gators led 14-0 at halftime) and, though Iain was running well, we weren’t able to score.”
On defense, the Gators “bent a few times, but didn’t break.”
Despite the win, Priestnall acknowledged, “we still have a lot of work to do, but I’ve said all along that our focus is on improving and getting better every time out.”
Central Kings travels to Windsor Sept. 18 for a 1 p.m. start at Avon View, (the Avalanche dropped their opener 74-0 to C.P. Allen), then plays CEC, Sir John A. Macdonald and Horton their next three games.
September 11 in Canning, host NKEC battled blustery weather and the Prince Andrew Panthers, and came away with a 5-3 win in a low-scoring defensive battle. The Titans got a James Lyons field goal and a pair of punt singles, while an Andrew Klain field goal accounted for the Prince Andrew scoring. Matt Whitford finished with 104 yards rushing for NKEC, tops for both teams.
“Our defense is looking good so far,” Titans head coach Wally Archer said Sept. 13. “I thought Prince Andrew’s defense played well, but our defense really stepped up when we needed it.”
He was especially pleased with the performance of middle linebacker Sam Bigelow, a Grade 10 student in his first year with the team. Leigh Benjamin also had a solid game on defense for NKEC.
As the final score would suggest, “offensively, we have some work to do.” Archer was pleased with Whitford’s performance, especially in the second half, and acknowledged, “we probably could have used him more.”
Archer and his fellow coaches are also likely to change their game plan to make more (and better) use of receiver David MacBurnie.
NKEC travels to Halifax this weekend to meet J.L. Ilsley, then will have a week off before facing Citadel Oct. 3 in Halifax.
As Archer pointed out, “three of our final five games are at home” and, with the Titans likely to keep improving, that could be to their advantage.
The Horton Griffins weren’t as fortunate in their season opener Sept. 12 in Halifax, dropping a 47-10 decision to Citadel, who Griffins’ head coach Alec Hyndman termed “by far, the best team in the league.”
Horton was able to move the ball at times, but not to score, other than on an 11-yard run by Robert Adams and a Robert Lannan field goal.
As well, Hyndman acknowledged, “we made far too many mistakes, which is a killer against that good an opponent.”
While it is “always humbling to lose by that kind of score,” it was actually an improvement over their meeting last season.
Citadel is “by far the best team we’ll play all season,” he said, and he remains confident his team’s fortunes will improve in the coming weeks.
Horton plays at Dartmouth this weekend, also likely to be a tough game, then has Halifax West, Prince Andrew, Central Kings and Cole Harbour on its schedule the next four weekends.