Mike Still, manitobafootballfeed (@mikestill94)
Feature photo: Hunter Brown (L) and the van dijk siblings are part of a talented Eagles offensive line
On Saturday at 6 p.m., the East Side Eagles (6-0) will look to keep the MMJFL championship in Transcona for a third consecutive season after topping Westman 47-0 in the semi-finals last weekend.
Combating them will be veteran quarterback Lucas Johnston, his favourite target Stanton Rempel and the rest of a St. Vital Mustangs squad that is hungry to avenge the team’s only two regular season losses of 2019, including a tight 15-10 contest to close out the campaign as well as a 44-12 loss in week one, both to the Eagles.
The Mustangs advanced to the championship after knocking off St. James 40-7. There was a one touchdown differential at halftime thanks to an excellent performance from the Rods secondary, however St. Vital came on strong in the second half. Captain Robert Lussier had two interceptions, one of which he returned to the house, while Johnston connected with multiple different targets for majors.
“Our season started not the way we would’ve hoped,” noted Johnston of the opening contest which included over 100 all-purpose yards from Eagles running back/kicker Danny Harris.
“But since then we’ve done nothing but grow and get better. [The Eagles] had most of their core coming back this year and we had a lot of turnover.
We knew going in that it would be a growing process and that their would be some pain along but the way, but we were one catch away from ending off the regular season with a win and had a big win in the playoffs, so I like where we’re at.”
The Eagles offence was unstoppable for the most part in 2019, led by back-to-back champ Bryson McNeil at quarterback and mastermind Barry Berard at the head coaching position.
The offseason addition of Harris from the Manitoba Bisons added to an already dangerous receiving corps that included a fully healthy speedster in Isaac Henry as well as the talented Brendan Okaley and Jonathan Krieg.
The defence was no slouch either, with Bradley Klassen manning the controls at linebacker and a secondary that led the league in interceptions and included captain Nick Martens, Braden Kowalski, Adam Gottfried and Brady Welburn.
“We started off pretty good obviously, and we knew we were going to have a strong season because we didn’t have anybody leaving really,” Martens said.”
“Moving to East Side [from Transcona] we also had some new faces come in like Danny, because of location. He’s just helped us so much and now we’re here.”
Below are some highlights from St. Vital and East Side’s semi-final wins.