By Jeff D'Andrea

Marauders keep dynasty alive with 6th straight Classic win

Sep 21, 2017 | 9:48 PM

The St. Mary Marauders senior football team chanted the word ‘dynasty’ as they lifted their sixth straight Canadian Tire Classic cup over their heads.

With their 22-8 victory over the Carlton Crusaders Thursday at Max Clunie Field, the Marauders have now won every Classic trophy since it was introduced in 2012.

“I’ll be honest, we’re pretty happy it’s coming back to the school,” Marauders head coach Curt Hundeby said. “We know every year it’s not a guarantee, so we worked really diligently to get our guys ready because we want that trophy staying in our school.

“We want to put up another plaque on there, we hang another football up in our team room and we want to own that trophy—we truly do.”

The Marauders got their first two touchdowns directly off of interceptions, on back-to-back possessions. Moments after defensive back Hunter Boyer picked off Crusader quarterback Jacques Lavoie and returned it to the 20-yard-line, Ashton Hall punched it in to draw first blood, and caught the two-point conversion from good measure as well for an early 8-0 lead to end the first quarter.

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Hall scored his second touchdown of the night, extending the lead to 15-0 after a Nohl Garrison and Bradley Robertson joint-interception. The Crusaders got a single late half off a missed field goal.

“Our defence was able to make a couple of plays. When they put the ball in the air, we had guys in the right spots,” Hundeby said. “I’m very happy with how our coaches prepared these guys, because those quick passes over the middle are something we’ve struggled on defending. We’ve worked a lot to get better on them.”

In the dying embers of the first half, Marauders quarterback Tyler Rock found Grant Alexander on a beautiful flag route to put St. Mary’s in a 22-1 lead at the half.

The Marauders had opportunities to extend their lead in the second half, but had what were long and productive drives get shut down from penalties and mistakes.

“Our gun’s out of ammo, we shot ourselves so many times in the foot,” Hundeby said. “It’s frustrating.”

The Crusaders struck late in the fourth quarter as Lavoie found receiver Kael Leachman from 28 yards out to make it a 22-8 contest with 1:08 remaining.

The Marauders (1-2) will hope to even up their record next Friday, taking on Mount Royal in Saskatoon.

The Crusaders (0-3) will look for their first win of the season next Friday against Bedford Road.

Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW