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Junior bantam Cowichan Bulldogs play to tie with Southside

Peewee Bulldogs lose despite lots of great performances
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Ben Wilson (43) and Nico Harris team up to bring down a Southside player late in the junior bantam Cowichan Bulldogs’ tie with the Dawgs last Sunday. (Kevin Rothbauer/Citizen)

The Cowichan Bulldogs wasted no time getting on the scoreboard in their junior bantam football game against the Southside Dawgs at McAdam Park last Sunday, but their early lead faded, and the back-and-forth battle ended in a 24-24 tie.

Dillon Wilson ran the ball 40 yards on the second play of the game, and quarterback Nico Harris followed that up with a 20-yard touchdown run, kicking the convert himself.

The Dawgs came back to score a touchdown that they failed to convert. Wilson went on another 40-yard run on Cowichan’s next possession, only to be tackled just shy of the end zone. Harris ran two yards to complete the touchdown drive, then made another convert. Southside scored the next two touchdowns, missing the converts both times, and led 18-16 at halftime.

Both teams tightened up on defence in the second half, and no one scored again until the fourth quarter, when Davin Reithaug beat five tacklers for an 18-yard touchdown run, with another convert from Harris, giving the Bulldogs a 24-18 edge with four minutes to go. Southside marched down the field and scored one last major. Having missed their three previous convert kicks, the Dawgs went for two, and while the pass was successful, Ryder Maertz brought down the receiver on the three-yard line to preserve the tie.

“We were complacent after going easy on teams in previous weeks,” Cowichan coach Ted Harris said. “Our boys weren’t pumped for the game and it showed.”

The Bulldogs need to pick it up down the stretch to be successful in the playoffs and make a bid for provincials, the coach added.

“These players will go as far as they want to go; it’s up to them,” he said. “They need to play with intensity every game from here on in if they want to get to that level.”

The peewee Bulldogs lost their game against Southside.

“It wasn’t our best game,” coach Opie Williams admitted. “We were rusty after the Thanksgiving weekend. We were trying a new offence and the players did not have a full grasp of it. We couldn’t move the ball on offence. Our defence struggled to make tackles. We couldn’t do the two most important things in football: blocking and tackling.”

There were a few highlights for the Bulldogs, including a 15-yard interception return by Logan O’Dell, some great tackles by Tarran Hanson, runs up the middle by Tristan Knight, and passes by Jaeden Williams to Maxim Magnan and Cruiz Heemskerk.

Three Bulldogs teams will be in action at McAdam Park this Sunday: the peewees at 11 a.m. and junior bantams at 1 p.m., both against Ladysmith, and the midgets at 2:30 p.m. against the Victoria Spartans.



Kevin Rothbauer

About the Author: Kevin Rothbauer

Kevin Rothbauer is the sports reporter for the Cowichan Valley Citizen
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