By Jeff D'Andrea

St. Mary wins all Marauder affair, beating Walter Murray 24-22

Oct 20, 2011 | 9:34 PM

When the St. Mary Marauders defeated the Walter Murray Marauders 24-22, St. Mary quarterback Robbie Stefanyshyn admitted he was absolutely stunned after the game.

“We didn’t think we would win this game, but we pulled it off,” said Stefanyshyn. “I don’t know how, but I think our whole team did a hell of a job.

“I’m speechless, it surprised me this game. It feels amazing.”

In his first start all year at quarterback, Stefanyshyn threw two touchdown passes, both to all-around athlete receiver Cody Sjogren, who was also a linebacker, punter, kicker and kick-returner in the game. Stefanyshyn had 88 yards passing on the day, on a St. Mary team that has struggled most of the year to move the ball through the air.

Stefanyshyn, whose natural position is at defensive back, said he adjusted well to the position, but knows there is still some room to improve.

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“It was tough but I think I handled it really well,” said Stefanyshyn. “I was really nervous going into this game, but I knew I just had to do my job and being a leader out there.

“I threw some ducks out there, but I have to work on getting those throws to where they need to be. I got lucky, what can I say.”

St. Mary running back Bryant Sackney was productive as he always is, rushing for 144 yards on the ground on 23 carries and his production took a lot of pressure off of Stefanyshyn.

“(Sackney) played phenomenally, I think he did a great job back there,” said Stefanyshyn of the Grade 10 Sackney, who rushed for 826 yards on the season in seven games.
“We wouldn’t be anywhere without him.”

Marauders head coach Curt Hundeby said it was great to see his team shine offensively at key situations in the game and make an impressive comeback. At one point in the second quarter, the Marauders trailed 16-3 before the offence started to really click.

“We’ve been struggling on offence, really all year, especially throwing the ball,” said Hundeby. “It’s a combination of things, we’ve had some games where a lot of balls have been dropped, some games where we’ve missed throws but ultimately, it hasn’t connected so we thought this game, let’s try and spark something.”

That’s ultimately why Hundeby made the decision to go with Stefanyshyn, a move that paid off.

Although the offence took some significant strides forward Thursday, Hundeby was very happy with the team’s defence as well, like he has been all season.

“(Walter Murray’s) running attack is fantastic and I think we did a pretty good job in stopping that and forcing them to throw the ball,” said Hundeby.

When they did throw the ball, the secondary was all over it, especially Lee Gignac, who iced the game with an interception with a minute left. Gignac also foiled a two-point conversion late in the game which would had tied the two Marauder teams at 24-24 with only 2:30 left.

Although they’re not sure when or who they will play for their first playoff game, Hundeby feels the win could put St. Mary in seventh place and anticipates they will place either Aden Bowman (5-0-1) or Holy Cross (5-1).

The Carlton Crusaders were also in action on the road Thursday, beating the Bedford Road Redmen 42-14.

For the second straight week, receiver Aaron Jensen had two touchdown receptions in the win, getting both from quarterback James Thorpe.

Running backs Shaquille Sanderson and Dylan Folmer each rushed in a touchdown and starting running back James Gabriel-Cannon eclipsed 1,000 yards rushing for the season in seven games played.

The win puts the Crusaders a 5-2 heading into the postseason.

jdandrea@panow.com