Eskimos coach watches as Junior Cougars, his former team, advance to Canadian semis with win over stubborn Windsor team
By Stephanie Myles,
Montreal Gazette
The nightcap of Edmonton Eskimos head coach Danny Maciocia’s Montreal football doubleheader went just about as well as the first part did.
“It makes for a great weekend. To me, this is special, to be here,” said Maciocia, as the team perhaps closest to his heart, the St. Leonard Cougars, pulled out a 39-20 win over the Windsor AKO Fratmen in the Canadian junior football Ontario conference final last night at Stade Hebert.
It’s not often the enemy coach, whose team had beaten the Alouettes at Olympic Stadium just hours earlier, gets a round of applause when he’s introduced. But these are special circumstances.
“This is like my second family. I’m in constant contact with them – two-three times a week the last five years since I left,” said Maciocia, who otherwise blended into the crowd, wearing his Cougars cap and a winner’s smile.
The Cougars rarely lose to anyone east of the Prairies. In fact, the last time it happened was the first game of the 2004 season against the Burlington Braves – that’s 28 straight wins and counting against Ontario conference teams, regular-season and playoff games combined. What gives them trouble are the Western teams.
The Cougars rarely even have to come from behind. But they did – twice – earlier this season against these same Fratmen.
Last night, they trailed 14-11 at halftime, had taken too many bad penalties, and veteran safety Delien Charles had already spent 10 minutes lying on the turf, barely out of bounds, after a hit.
Charles was carried off the field during halftime, his left leg almost entirely encased in a splint after suffering what likely are torn ligaments.
“This team has way less talent than other years, but it has a lot more heart,” Cougars head coach Tony Iadeluca said. “We lost our concentration for the last two minutes of the half, especially when (Charles) went down.”
The break turned things around, as did the change in quarterback from Greg Cerallo to Steve Robert.
The Cougars opened the second half with a blocked punt by defensive-back Herntz Romain, who then recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown. Christopher Milo’s monster kickoff went through the end zone for a single point. And on the Fratmen’s first play from scrimmage after that, they fumbled. It was recovered by Rylund Hunter on the Fratmen 34.
Milo’s second field goal of the game brought the Cougars from a three-point deficit to an eight-point lead with less than five minutes gone in the third quarter.
The Fratmen managed a touchdown with 71/2 minutes to go in the game and had a successful two-point conversion that would have tied the game 22-22 called back on a penalty. They missed their second attempt. The Cougars ran from there.
Maciocia had nothing to do with the serendipity of the scheduling. So many officials were tied up with two university football games, plus the Alouettes games, that the Cougars had two options: last night or this afternoon. Iadeluca didn’t want to lose an extra day of rest with the team tentatively scheduled to leave for Edmonton Friday for the Canadian Bowl semifinal, so he chose the night game.
Iadeluca was looking ahead. After the early concerns, it worked out.
The Cougars should have their good-luck charm again. The Eskimos will be home Friday night against Saskat-chewan, and Maciocia intends to invite the Cougars’ players and staff to the game as his guests. The Cougars will play Saturday against the winner of today’s game between the Edmonton Hilltops and the Edmonton Huskies.
What needs to happen for the Cougars to pull off a Western upset?
“We need to have a break happen in one of those games, just like we did today,” Iadeluca said. “We just need the ball to bounce our way just once. And once it does, there will be no stopping us.”
