FDS Local : NB High School Football 10-man Championship

The final weekend in New Brunswick high school football is just around the corner and what better match-up could we have to end it all? The St. Stephen Spartans have been an absolute force in the 10-man division as they have been perfect this season. The Spartans “inverted wing” offence has caused all sorts of problems for their opponents over the last 10 years. The opposition is always well aware of what their game plan is, but seem to have no way of stopping it.

This game will take place in Sackville on the Mount Allison University campus. The decision of hosting the game 3 hours away is an intriguing one that I have been unsuccessfully trying to figure out . One thing I can confirm is that it is a beautiful facility and has much more seating in what should be a great game. The Spartans won their semi final match-up against the Harrison Trimble Trojans in a very wet game by a score of 35-0. The Spartans have only allowed 36 points on the season and have also had the best offence in the entire league. This is one solid football team.

Their Opponent, the Kennebecasis valley Crusaders come into the championship game after a convincing win over the Bernice MacNaughton Highlanders 19-6 in Moncton last Friday night. The Crusaders looked in control all night long and controlled the football game from the first kickoff. This team has been in many championship games over the last decade and is equipped with a great coaching staff. They will however have a very difficult task this weekend as the Spartans run game has yet to be stopped. The Crusaders offence has been impressive this season in their own right, as they still put up over 250 points in the regular season and that was also complimented by the 2nd best defence in the league. They also won the title last season and are no strangers to coming to a championship as the underdog. Last season, no one even gave them a chance when they faced the St. Malachy’s Memorial Saints, that seemed destined to win the banner in 2017.

Both of these teams love to run the football and the forecast calls for yet another rainy afternoon in Sackville, but this should not change much of the game flow. These teams also do not turnover the ball more than the average, but have both been really good at causing them. The rain could impact those turnovers and make things pretty interesting in this one. They met once this season in a game that the Spartans won by a score of 21-0. This one should be a little bit closer with both teams peaking.

The Picks

For one Final time, let’s see what our 3 analysts think will happen in the 10-man final on Saturday!

Pistol Pete (60-16): “Spartans 28-14”
Mister Freeze (56-20): “35-14 Spartans”
Coach Zen (63-13): “28-7 Spartans”

From myself and the analysts, we hope you have enjoyed this year’s weekly column as much as I have enjoyed writing it. It was a blast and we hope it added some fun to this year’s high school football season. At the end of the day, it’s all about our young athletes and watching them grow into good football players and even better people.

Much love,

Big D