Mustangs climb into second place in MFL June 18, 2017 9:00 AM ADT The Moncton Mustangs are on a two-game winning streak and they moved into second place in the Maritime Football League with a 26-21 victory over the Prince Edward Island Mariners on Saturday at Rocky Stone Memorial Field. "P.E.I. is a dangerous team," said Moncton head coach Jason Terris. "They have a few incredible players so we knew going into the game that we would have our hands full. We didn't take them lightly, but I think some of our younger guys underestimated them because of their winless record. "We didn't play very soundly. We cheated a lot. We tried to make some big plays and missed. We allowed them lots of space on the field. Our defence made some mistakes and P.E.I.'s best players gave us some headaches. Chris Brown came up with an interception in the endzone on the last play of the game to preserve the win for us." The Saint John Wanderers, 3-0, and Moncton, 2-1, hold the top two spots in the league. The Nova Scotia Buccaneers are 1-2 and P.E.I. is 0-3. Saint John defeated Nova Scotia 33-0 on Saturday. Moncton held a 13-7 lead after the first quarter. Aubrey Ellis had a two-yard touchdown run and there was a missed convert. Quarterback Dan Comfort hit Josh Dickinson with a 15-yard touchdown pass. P.E.I. owned a 14-13 lead at halftime. Comfort threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Glodin Mulali and Moncton held a 20-14 lead after the third quarter. P.E.I. grabbed a 21-20 lead with 5:21 remaining in the fourth quarter. Moncton bounced back and scored the winning touchdown on a quarterback keep as Comfort dashed 30 yard into the endzone. League action will continue with two games on Saturday. Moncton will host Nova Scotia at 2 p.m. at Mathieu Martin High School and Saint John will visit P.E.I.

Mustangs record road win over Mariners July 4, 2017 8:00 AM ADT The Moncton Mustangs used a strong second half to defeat the Island Mariners 53-41 in the Maritime Football League on Saturday in Cornwall, P.E.I. The victory was the Mustangs' fourth　in a row (including one win by forfeit) as they moved into a tie with the Saint John Wanderers for first place in the four-team league. The Wanderers are 4-0 and the Mustangs 4-1. Moncton trailed 27-20 at halftime, but came on in the third quarter. It recovered a pair of onside kicks by Scott LeBlanc and ended up scoring　on both possessions to take control of the game. The Mustangs enjoyed a fantastic day running the ball. They rushed for 418 yards on the ground in all, including 343 by running back Aubrey Ellis. Ellis found the end zone five times. Moncton head coach Jason Terris said Ellis and the offensive line - led by Kevin Jones, Corey Lirette and Greg Kinsman - were the heroes of the game. "Those guys are fantastic players and have been around for a long time and they work really well together. They were able to get on bodies and move bodies down field and create a lot of space for Aubrey to find holes," Terris said. "Aubrey does a great job of finding open space and getting down field." Mustangs quarterback Dan Comfort ran for a pair of scores and Glodin Mulali added one in the victory. The Moncton defence made some adjustments at halftime and was able to limit the damage by Island running backs Dave Clark and Eugene McMinns. "They had us in quite a stressful situation in the first half," said Terris. "Those guys are fantastic players and they gave us headaches until we were able to use special teams to get ahead." Justin Terris and Steve Cormier led the Mustangs defence with 10 tackles each. The Mariners saw their record drop to 0-5. The Mustangs have a bye week this week. They complete the regular season on July 15 on the road against Saint John. Moncton's only loss of the season came against the four-time defending MFL champion Wanderers, a 21-7 setback in Week 2 at home. "We've got two full weeks to prepare for a tough game against Saint John," said Terris. "Hopefully we can fix the defensive struggles that we had against P.E.I."

Moncton advances to Maritime Bowl July 23, 2017 8:00 AM ADT The script has unfolded as expected so far. The Moncton Mustangs and Saint John Wanderers, the top two clubs in the regular season, will clash in the Maritime Football League championship game. The Maritime Bowl will take place on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Shamrock Park in Saint John. Saint John, 6-0, finished first overall in the league and Moncton, 4-2, was runnerup. Saint John, which is seeking a fifth consecutive championship, won both games against Moncton in the regular season by scores of 21-7 on June 3 and 28-24 on July 15. Saint John destroyed the Prince Edward Island Mariners 35-0 in the semifinal on Saturday. Moncton posted a lopsided victory by defeating the Nova Scotia Buccaneers 35-12 in the other semifinal on Saturday. "We turned in a dominant performance on both sides of the ball," said Moncton head coach Jason Terris. "We've improved steadily as a team throughout the season and we have a lot of confidence going into the championship game. Saint John is the team to beat and we're excited about facing them in the Maritime Bowl. "When we lost to Saint John in the Maritime Bowl last season, our goal immediately after that game was to get back to the championship game this season. We've achieved that, but we're hungry for more. We won't be satisfied unless we bring home the championship trophy." Moncton jumped out to a 35-0 halftime lead over Nova Scotia on Saturday. Mustangs quarterback Dan Comfort connected on eight of 14 pass attempts for 106 yards in the first half. He threw touchdown passes of 20 yards to Leslie Greene and four yards to Akeem White and he also had a six-yard touchdown run. Running back Aubrey Ellis had the other touchdowns on runs of eight yards and three yards. Comfort was pulled from the game at halftime and backup quarterback Bobby McIntyre played the second half. The Mustangs had 299 yards of total offence. "It was really good to be able to win the way we did," said Terris. "With a 35-0 lead at halftime, it was nice to be able to get our second team guys some good reps in the playoffs. We want to develop our young players so it was good to give them some playoff experience. "We're a better team now than the two previous times we played against Saint John this season. We know we face a big challenge against them in the Maritime Bowl, but we're feeling good about ourselves."

Moncton stands between Saint John and football history July 28, 2017 9:36 AM ADT It was always going to come down to this, right? If the Saint John Wanderers are going to win an unprecedented five consecutive Maritime Football League championships and become the G.O.A.T., they have to go through the Moncton Mustangs, right? You know, the MFL’s only other franchise to produce a dynasty team. Well, of course. “This is where we hoped to be, chasing history and going against a tough competitor in Moncton,” said Wanderers head coach Scott McNamee. “These franchises are the only teams to win four straight titles in league history, so it’s fitting that we are the teams playing for this championship. Talk about a fairy-tale ending.” So, the chess pieces are in place for Maritime Bowl XVI, tabbed for a 4 p.m. kickoff Saturday at Shamrock Park’s Emera NB Field. The Wanderers punched their ticket to the big game with a precision-like 35-0 triumph over the Island Mariners while Moncton settled nicely as the other team whose name is on the marquee by summarily disposing of the Nova Scotia Buccaneers 35-12. If regular-season performances account for anything, the championship has ‘classic’ written all over it: Saint John beat Moncton 21-7 earlier in the season, but it was only 14 days ago that the Wanderers came from behind to shade the Mustangs 28-24. That victory extended Saint John’s remarkable win streak to 36 games, but it confirmed to McNamee that the rivalry between the clubs is, in urban speak, all that and a bag of chips. Indeed, the Moncton grid machine is for real. “They are very good executing their game plan – they do a good job accounting for our best players,” said McNamee, an all-star defensive lineman who hung up the cleats after Saint John outgunned the Mustangs 47-21 in the 2016 final. “Moncton has done a good job moving the ball against us and has come up with some clever plays. We’ll watch some film and be ready to go. Our best players will be on the field at all times.” This will be Saint John’s 11th appearance in the last 16 MFL finals as it shoots for its eighth overall crown and fifth in succession, which will lend credence to the ‘Greatest Of All Time' argument. The game will also be the swan song for running back Jon Haines, whose performance this season has earned him a fifth Most Outstanding Player Award. “He’s the best this league has ever seen,” said McNamee, noting that Haines has also been named the most outstanding offensive player four times and is a 15-time all-star. “He’s the all-time leader in touchdowns, yards rushing… you name it. Nobody wants this more than him. Our focus in winning this championship, and a part of that is giving Hainsie a fitting farewell.” The Wanderers, who won their seventh consecutive regular-season pennant with a 6-0 record, own the league’s No. 1 offence (31 points per game) and No. 1 defence (9.0 points per game). And, it’s because of what these units bring to the gridiron that McNamee won’t make major adjustments to the way the Wanderers’ approach the final. “We will stick with our game plan,” he said. “There will be a few wrinkles, but we know what we want to do against Moncton. Let’s see if they can stop us. If we’re running the ball well, it’s up to them to prove that they can stop us. And, if they do, we have Jon Golacki’s canon-of-an-arm to launch our passing attack. Guys like Golacki and Haines are very, very smart – they can adjust on the fly.” If this Wanderers’ team is to stand alone in the history books – the Riverview Mustangs’ dynasty, circa 2007 to 2010, is the only other team to win four consecutive titles – they know full well there will be nothing handed to them on a silver platter. “We don’t want the score to be close,” said McNamee. “We want to run the ball down their throats, but we know it’s going to be a battle. This game is going to be fought in the trenches. Let me just say this: our team is in a good place.

Mustangs are kings of Maritime football again July 31, 2017 8:00 AM ADT The Moncton Mustangs have climbed back to the top of the mountain. They're kings of Maritime football again. The Mustangs captured the Maritime Football League crown on Saturday, turning back the rival Saint John Wanderers 43-23 in the Maritime Bowl league final in Saint John. The victory delivered Moncton's first MFL championship since 2010. "We executed perfectly," said Mustangs head coach Jason Terris. "The players did a great job in everything they needed to do." Moncton took a 10-7 lead into halftime and then reeled off three straight touchdowns in the third quarter to pull ahead 30-7. The visitors never looked back from there. The loss snapped Saint John's 36-game winning streak. The Mustangs also denied the Wanderers' bid for the most consecutive championships in league history at five. Both teams have won four straight titles in their past - 2007 to 2010 for Moncton and 2013 to 2016 for Saint John. "The big thing for us was to preserve our spot in the league history with our four-peat and end theirs before they could turn it to five," Terris said. "That means a lot to us and everyone involved in the whole Mustangs history." Saint John entered the game as the favourite - finishing in first place with a 6-0 regular-season record and handing second-place Moncton (4-2) its only two losses. But the Mustangs felt good about their chances after pushing the Wanderers hard in a 28-24 loss in the final week of the regular season. Moncton got out to a 10-0 second-quarter lead on Saturday and then stepped up its game in the third quarter. Three consecutive touchdowns - Steve Cormier running in for a score and then quarterback Dan Comfort throwing TD passes to Akeem White and Cormier - put the Mustangs in front 30-7. It was too much of a deficit for the Wanderers to overcome. "Defensively, we knew we could outathlete them. We played straight up man to man coverage and our defensive backs shut down their passing game. That allowed us to load up against their run. (Saint John running back, Jon) Haines is such an incredible runner that it takes an overload of guys to shut him down," Terris said. "Offensively, we made some changes late in the year and we didn't install the rest of our offensive package until early this week or late last week. We were really confident because we were so close in our last game against them and we knew we had so much of our playbook that they had never seen. We knew we had a fantastic chance of winning the game. "We were the hardest working team in the league - in practice and outside of practice - and it paid off." Comfort threw for 350 yards and three touchdowns for Moncton. Cormier, who played both ways, caught one touchdown pass and also ran in for a score. He registered six tackles on defence at linebacker. Matt Rose and Leslie Green each scored a touchdown and rookie Glodin Mulali had a pair of interceptions, including returning one for a major, for the Mustangs. Jon Golacki, Joel Seale and Haines replied with touchdowns for the Wanderers. Several Moncton players - such as Cormier, D.J. Carmichael, Matt Cormier, Kevin Jones, Justin Terris and Allain Bourque - are expected to retire after the win. "I'm super proud of those guys," said Jason Terris. "They've left a huge legacy for future guys." Five Mustangs players received MFL awards. They were Cormier (most outstanding defensive player), Mulali (most outstanding rookie), Comfort (top quarterback), Aubrey Ellis (top running back) and Greg Kinsman (top offensive lineman). Jason Terris was named the MFL coach of the year. Six Mustangs players - Ellis at running back, Mulali at receiver, Alex Doyle and Kinsman at offensive line, Scott LeBlanc at kicker and Cormier at linebacker - were picked MFL all-stars.