Although this weekend’s game will be chalked up as a loss in the standings for the Bulldogs the game was considered somewhat of a win in many categories for the Dogs. The Dogs competed on par with the Outlaws and the game was decided on a couple of plays. An early mistake in the defensive backfield gave the Outlaws the early lead with a 70 yard pass and run play. The dogs fell further behind in the first as the defense were having trouble containing running back Jonathan Nedeljkovic and by the end of the 1st quarter the Outlaws were leading 14-0 on a 33 yard completion to ex-Toronton Argonaut Ian Forde.
The Dogs offense came back and put together a long drive capped with a 37 yard touchdown pass to Andre Landry to bring the home club within 7. Just before half time the Bulldogs were driving very well and a completion to Ford Morland on the Outlaws 40 yard line ended the drive when Morland tried to lateral the ball to Kevin Ramakko and ended up on the turf and recovered by the Outlaws.
“We found out that the official on the fan side of the field told Morland that it was the last play of the half. So Morland tried to make something happen. That was a pivotal irresponsible thing for that official to do, ‘cause there was still just under a minute to go. Each official have a separate set of responsibilities and that particular official was not supposed to say that kind of thing….but he did and it lead to the end of our drive” explained Head Coach Marc Mathon.
The defense began to solve some of what the Outlaws were doing in the second half and the offense continued to develop some success as the Bulldogs coaching staff made some important adjustments. Later in the 3rd quarter Dave Wilson found Matt Gordon for 30 yard gain leaving the Dogs with a 1st and goal from the 1 yard line. “That was a perfectly thrown ball and a spectacular catch by Gordon to set up that TD. Kevin Ramakko plowed in behind Fullback Jason Pichette to bring the score to 21 – 14 for the visitors.
The Dogs continued to work defensively but Outlaw QB Jeff Nosal’s athleticism was just too much for the young defense to handle and they put together another drive with Nosal scoring from 3 yards out. “Maybe if we had all of our defenders for this game we may have had a better chance to contain him, but he’s been doing this to all other clubs throughout the league…he’s a good player” commented Mathon.
The defense was without LB Anthony Gauthier, DL Nick Greaves, DL/LB Tyler Croghan all away on family commitments and Randy Nodder and Josh Ricker still out with injuries. “I think both sides of the ball came together very well this game despite being short on defense” said Mathon.
The game ended as a 28 – 21 loss for the Dogs but with huge improvements across the board. Next week they host the Oakville Longhorns in the make up game for the June 21st rain-out.
