The North Bay Bulldogs travelled to Cambridge to face the team that knocked them out of the playoffs in 2015 in the Bulldogs’ first ever home playoff game, losing to the Lions in a very closely contested game. The sting of that loss continued to sting throughout camp as the players marked this date in their calendars.
“I was impressed with the work ethic the players put into preparing for this game this week, implementing our game plan for the Lions.” said Bulldogs Coach Marc Mathon.
The Bulldogs prepared for the Lions’ spread offense and continued to work on tackling and executing their defensive approach. Their hard work paid off as the Bulldogs earned their second shutout of the season with a 40–0 win in the Cambridge Lions home opener on Saturday.
The defense executed very well recovering three fumbles and intercepting the Lions QB four times including an exciting team effort to convert Ethan Hurd’s interception into a 68 scoring return to round off the Dogs scoring at 40.
Other notables include five tackles by Philip Fortin, sacks by Nick Lebeau and Jay Turnsek, two interceptions by Michael Paquet and Conor Doyle and fumble recoveries by Brayden Campbell, Tyler Karpenko and Myles Neal.
The defense played excellent team defense limiting the Lions offense to less completions than Dogs interceptions and under 140 yards of total offense.
Offensively, the Dogs continue to improve in their execution in the air as well as in the ground game. “It takes a lot more time for the offense to become proficient in execution timing and so they need more reps to develop that... so gratefully our players understand that.” Says coach Mathon.
The Bulldogs did seem to improve as their passing game got some traction as Mason McGriskin was able to connect with 5 different receivers 14 times in 25 pass attempts for a total of 225 yards and five touchdowns passing. On the ground the JV Dogs managed 106 yards on 13 carries for an average of eight yards per carry. Matt Cirullo led the team with 42 yards while Dawson Drinkwalter contributed 29 yards on a breakaway run of his own.
In the first quarter the Bulldogs offense game plan seem to start off well as they scored twice in the 1st quarter with Jonathan Warren hauling in two TD passes from McGriskin of 34 yards and 33 yards respectively. Later in the 2nd quarter McGriskin found Warren in the end zone again on a play action pass.
The Lions coaching staff implemented some adjustments causing the Dogs offense to sputter in the 3rd with the Lions defense causing the Dogs offense to punt twice, while the Lions offense gaining yards against the Dogs defense.
The Bulldogs coaches on both sides of the ball made adjustments on the fly and resulted in finishing with a strong 4th quarter. McGriskin connected with Jonah Tignanelli in the endzone to put the Dogs up 27 – 0.
The defensive backfield facing the Lions passing game intercepted the ball setting up the offense with a short field. Rookies Dawson Drinkwalter and Riley Geisler made their marks as Drinkwalter ran for 29 yards resulting in a 1st down at the 7 and Geisler took a short pass to the end zone to complete the offensive production for the day with over 9 minutes left in the game.
The defense spent the rest of the game on the field which included a defensive score with Hurd’s 68 yard interception return.
This was a convincing 40–0 win for the Bulldogs as they head into a bye week and prepare for a 3 game home stretch starting with the Toronto Jets visiting the now 3–0 North Bay Bulldogs at Omischl on June 18th.
“Although we are happy with the results of our first 3 games, all our players and coaches understand that we need to continue to improve,” said Mathon.
“Our volunteer coaches are acting like pros by how well we are preparing our players for games and executing game plans. We still have big challenges coming and the hard work needs to continue.”
Bantam Bulldogs shine in Cambridge
The North Bay Bulldogs Bantam team opened the afternoon in Cambridge looking to recover from a 60–28 loss in their season opener. The Bulldogs were looking for a bounce back game on the road in Cambridge.
The offense scored on its opening drive, on the ensuing kickoff the Bulldogs got the ball right back as the Lions couldn't handle the kick off. Again the offense didn't relent and scored again. The offense continued through the entire game scoring on long drives, giving the defense plenty of rest.
When the defense was on the field they didn't let up playing to the whistle and having 5 or 6 Bulldogs in on every tackle.
In the fourth quarter the defense even got in on the action with Chase MaCleod getting the first defensive score in Bantam Bulldogs history.
Other Bulldogs that scored in our game were Riley Lavergne, Ashton Stanley, Nathan Fok, Jeffery Crowe, and quarterback Jacob Aubertin also scored on a long run.
Isaac Collins contributed with an interception.
The final score in the game was 53-0 for the Bulldogs.
Positive Bulldogs vibes
The club continues to receive positive comments from visiting teams on the quality of show its volunteers are putting on during their home games. Bulldogs Football continues to be a positive sports tourism component of North Bay’s economic profile.
All football fans are welcome to come enjoy an afternoon of family fun with a BBQ and watch the Bulldogs take on the Toronto Jets on June 18th at the Omischl Sports Complex.
The Bantam Bulldogs game kicks off at 1 p.m. and Junior Varsity Bulldogs game at 4 p.m.
