By: Mike Still
Feature photo: East Side celebrates after a week one victory over St. Vital
The 2019 Manitoba Major Junior Football League (MMJFL) season kicked off this weekend, with East Side and St. James coming out victorious over St. Vital and Westman, respectively.
Eagles use well-balanced attack in 44-12 victory
This is the first season that East Side is fielding a team since 2015, however a large majority of the players on the roster have been part of the back-to-back championship teams at Transcona.
“Playing East Side, we had a lot of River East kids come, because a bunch of my friends went there,” veteran defensive back Nick Martens said prior to the start of the season. “Then when we went to Transcona, they all made the drive because they wanted to keep playing with their buddies.”
One of the key offensive players during the Nationals championship run was quarterback Bryson McNeil. He looked in fine form back in Eagles colours, successfully running a no-huddle offence to start the contest which gave East Side a quick 17-0 first quarter lead and eventual 44-12 win in their season and home opener last Friday night.
The graduate of River East Collegiate distributed the ball to seven different receivers and finished the contest with 317 yards and four touchdowns.
Not to be outdone however, was new recruit Danny Harris, a veteran of the Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) with the Valley Huskers, as well as U SPORTS with the Manitoba Bisons.
Standing at 5’8″ the running back — who went both ways in high school for Kildonan East — used his speed and quick cuts to stymie the Mustangs defence all evening. He had nine carries for 44 yards and a touchdown on the ground as well as two receptions for 89 yards and a score — with both plays coming on swing passes out of the backfield.
The humble athlete prefers to keep the spotlight off of him and instead focuses on a team-first approach, however it’s impossible not to make note of his abilities.
“[MMJFL alum] Nolan Jackson was a phenomenal running back and we’ve had great backs in the past, but Danny is just a different kind of back,” Eagles head coach Barry Berard said postgame.
“He’s got such great acceleration and agility and his change of pace and direction is lights out.”
Defensively, East Side’s emotional leader Bradley Klassen was all over the field again. He had eight tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery while defensive linemen Daniel Driver and Brandon Hoel combined for four sacks.
Despite the score, St. Vital was still able to move the ball effectively on offence but just couldn’t finish, turning the ball over twice on third down in the red zone.
Founder of the #cutestshowonturf Lucas Johnston played admirably at quarterback with 188 yards and a touchdown. He’s proven to be a plug and play guy all through his MMJFL career, lining up at defensive line and receiver in the past. This season he’s back under centre to start the year after typical pivot Peter Leclair suffered an upper body injury.
Johnston’s favourite target was Stanton Rempel, who had 175 yards and the lone St. Vital major while also tallying a few insane grabs including a one-hander where he was falling to the ground.
Rods come out on top in defensive battle
In the MMJFL’s other action, St. James traveled to Brandon and came out with the 15-7 victory in a defensive tilt Saturday afternoon.
The Wolverines found the score board early on a pick six from Dustin Everett, however they were unable to match the Rods offensively, who recorded three field goals and also got a touchdown reception from Tyler Slusarenko.
“We had promising drives on offence but we just have to finish in the red zone,” Rods pivot Nathan Leitao said postgame.
“If we work with our receivers and our o-line we can be a dominant offence. Defence played great and I expect a lot more this season. We are very enthusiastic moving into week two against East Side.”
Next week will feature just one contest, with St. Vital hosting Westman at 3 pm. You can catch that game live on Manitoba Football Feed’s facebook account.