Lions Leash Division Leading Bulldogs
Story and Photos by Robert Thomas
“It’s football and that’s just the way it is,” Moose Jaw Bulldogs head coach Jodi Throssell told MJ Independent.
The Bulldogs had just lost their first U12 division game of the season to the Moose Jaw Lions 24 - 0 in Kinsmen Moose Jaw Minir Football action Thursday evening.
But perhaps most importantly the Bulldogs had lost their starting and backup quarterbacks to injury in the hard fought game.
Moose Jaw Lions Martin Alberts tackles Moose Jaw Bulldogs starting quarterback Jax Throssell
“Once we lost our second quarterback it became a little bit more of a challenge,” Throssell said.
The Bulldogs had to make do with a quarterback with no tackle football experience against the best team in the U12 division.
“One of our guys (Maxine Curtis ) stepped in and he did the best that he could. I think he did a heck of job,” he said.
Moose Jaw Lions Logan Florent evades a would be tackler along the sidelines
“He had no experience as quarterback in tackle football so I think he did really well…he just stepped in. He had a good attitude about it. He had a lot of fun. He had a big smile about it the whole time.”
“It’s football. It happens. Injuries happen and you just have to deal with them the best you can,” he said.
The Bulldogs had a good first half until injuries took over.
Moose Jaw Bulldogs Griffin Audette jostles with Moose Jaw Lions Logan Florent for a pass
“I think we did pretty well and our kids were driving downfield. They obviously have a good defence and they were giving our offence a hard time. But I think our offence was playing very well and seemed to be gelling pretty good. We had to adjust a little bit for the Lions defensive play,” Throssell said.
Asked if there could be a positive in the loss or in losing he said it was possible.
“I think it’s good for the kids. They now know it feels like. They can also use that fire to take into the next game. Hopefully they don’t have to feel that feeling for the rest of the year,” he said.
Moose Jaw Lions Chaysen Seiferling (right) fights against two Moose Jaw Bulldogs tacklers
The Bulldogs had one five games in a row up til the match against the Lions on Thursday evening.
Despite the difficulties the Bulldogs team still played a strong game.
“Our kids don’t give up when they’re down. They stayed in there. They had a good attitude. They tried battling the best they could. As I said before it’s football and losing happens.”
Moose Jaw Bulldogs Ashton Cuthbertson reaches for a pass that would end up being incomplete
For Moose Jaw Lions head coach Kellyn Bollinger it was a good outing with the Lions wrapping up the regular season with a pair of wins.
“I couldn’t be happier with how the boys played out there?” Bollinger said.
“They came out. They battled for four quarters and we came away with the win which is what we came here for,” he said.
One of the Moose Jaw Lions four unsuccessful two point conversion attempts
The Lions end the regular season on a high note against two tough opponents.
“We ended up finishing with the top two teams in the league so that’s good. We got a chance to go through some easier ones in the start but finishing strong as we go into the playoffs is a good sign.”
Asked about what he thought about how well the Bulldogs played despite losing both of their quarterbacks Bollinger said they played well despite the injury losses.
Two Moose Jaw Lions practice their touchdown dance on the sidelines
“Whenever you lose some key players at this age it is really tough to fill,” he said, adding “it’s tough to fill those voids.”
“They battled back all night. It was a real physical game. They are a very physical team on both sides of the ball. It’s a good football team. It’s too bad they did lose those guys (both quarterbacks). We will probably seem them again in the playoffs.”
Penalty problems hurt the Lions.
The Moose Jaw Bulldogs during a timeout
“Yeah we have got to do things better to clean things up.”
A major penalty to the Lions happened in the dying seconds of the second quarter when a long touchdown play was called back.
“That one hurt but we got guys who went down and did things they weren’t suppose to do. When that happens the refs are going to throw the flags. We have got to clean it up.”
Moose Jaw Bulldogs starting quarterback Jax Throssell attempts to get past two Moose Jaw Lions tacklers
“There were some small mental mistakes that yes we will be working on it. It will definitely be a focus, something we can bring forward to practice in order to improve our game. There are always ways to improve and tonight that was definitely our weak spot - was committing penalties,” Bollinger said.
As the team practices for the playoffs the Lions will focus on cleaning up their penalty problems, he said.
“We’ll make sure we’re ready to go in the playoffs without those penalties.”
A measurement comes up short as the Lions turn the ball over on downs
Coach Bollinger said running back Logan Florent had a second great game.
“He’s a machine. He’s a big physical running back and he carried us tonight.”
The Lions managed to advance the ball to first and goal in the last minute of the game, but chose to simply run out the Clock instead of scoring a final touchdown.
Moose Jaw Lions quarterback looks for a passing target
Scoring Breakdown
First Quarter
Lions 6
Bulldogs 0
Second Quarter
Lions 6
Bulldogs 0
Third Quarter
Lions 12
Bulldogs 0
Final Score
Lions 24
Bulldogs 0
