The Carlton Crusaders offence was clicking as they defeated the Aden Bowman Bears 51-30 at Max Clunie Field on Friday evening.
The game was an exhibition and did not count in the North Sask Football League (NSFL) standings but coach Lindsay Strachan was pleased to see the offence perform so well.
“We kind of got things going tonight,” Strachan said. “It was nice to see. I thought our group took a big step forward in terms of execution.
“We ran the ball tough tonight and made some plays wherever we had to.”
The Crusaders led 16-0 after the first quarter, 23-8 after the second quarter and 30-14 after the third quarter.
On the visitor’s side, the Bears offence was led by Ben Blackburn who had 10 receptions for 211 yards. Blackburn also had four rushes for 55 yards and threw a touchdown pass for Aden Bowman.
“He’s a special player, that guy,” Strachan said. “He kind of gave us fits tonight. We knew he was going to be a tough guy to contain. He’s a heck of a player. He is shifty and he has the speed to make you miss.”
The Crusaders scored their opening touchdown on a two yard run by quarterback Colm Phillips just over six minutes into the first quarter. The Crusader added two more points with a safety at the eight minute mark. Bladen Dogniez caught a 50 yard touchdown pass just after the 10 minute mark for Carlton.
Zane Litzenberger was responsible for the next run of points beginning with a 40 yard pass and run at 7:52 of the second quarter. In the third quarter Litzenberger added a 51 yard touchdown run. Phillips then scored a 14 yard touchdown run to open scoring early in the fourth quarter. Litzenberger added another 23 yard pass and run at 7:07 of the fourth. Rylan Rylan Morrison sealed the game with a 52 yard touchdown run evading tacklers along the way.
The Bears opened their scoring with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Emmett Curson in the second quarter. Blackburn was then responsible for the next set of scores with a two-yard run to score the two point conversion, a 21-yard touchdown pass followed by another two-yard run for a conversion in the third quarter and a 77-yard catch and run. Curson closed the scoring for Aden Bowman with a successful two after another four yard touchdown pass to Blackburn.
Strachan pointed to both Litzenberger and Blackburn as weapons of the game.
“Big night for Zane, and it was kind of a Blackburn-Litzenberger duel tonight,” Strachan said.
Litzenberger had six catches for 113 yards, along with two rushes 56 yards for Carlton and was successful on every extra point. Phillips led the team in rushing with 12 rushes for 132 yards, while Morrision added 95 yards rushing on 10 carries.
He also pointed to Morrison’s running.
“He is shifty and he has the speed to make you miss,” he added.
The team had a goal line stop in the third quarter and also was able to strip quarterback and recover the fumble and special teams again stood out.
“I thought specials was really good tonight, and outside of a few big plays, I thought the defence was pretty stout against the run,” Strachan sajd.
Even though the teams play has been gradually getting better each week, Strachan said that there is always room to improve.
“The work’s never done,” he said. “The film doesn’t lie. There’s some things that we’re always going to have to clean up, so we’ll pick it apart here in the next couple of days.”
The Crusaders are currently 1-0 in the NSFL and face the first place 2-0 Martensville Royals on Sept. 26 in Martensville.
“We’ve got a good test down in Martensville next Friday. The first road game and a rematch of our final last year. That’s going to be a good game,” Strachan said.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
