It was a big gamble that paid off.
Facing third down with 2:05 left in a scoreless playoff game, George McDougall Mustangs’ head coach Brent Legault decided to hand the ball to tailback Alex Smith rather than attempting a short field goal.
Smith made his coach look good when he ran the ball in for a four-yard touchdown – the only points in the Mustangs’ 7-0 win over the crosstown rival Bert Church Chargers in the teams’ Rocky View Sports Association football semi-final at Genesis Place field, Oct. 22.
The win moves George Mac into the RVSA Tier 2 gold final against Springbank on Oct. 29. Bert Church will face Chestermere for bronze.
“Coach made great calls and we pulled it out,” said an elated Smith after the win. “My O line blocked great, our receivers made great blocks, and we just made it happen today. Getting beat by the Chargers two years in a row, every game, hurt. I came back here with a chip on my shoulder. I wanted to prove something – and we did.”
“I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” Legault said of his decisive call. “I would have been happy with the three points, but it would have made for a lot more of an exciting finish that I don’t think I could have handled. I had full faith our guys were going to do their job, the line was going to do their blocking and the running back was going to run hard.”
“We had our chances to score, but George McDougall’s defence was sensational tonight,” said Chargers’ head coach Andy Kirk.
“They played hard and we got very little offence. Our offence is better than it showed, but the way they were playing we were in tough today.”
Bert Church’s best chance to score in the first half came after Jahlal Pottinger’s 60-yard punt return set the Chargers up with great field position. But after Karl Louder ran for 19 yards on a pitch, Bert Church took a costly illegal block penalty.
The Chargers attempted a 15-yard field goal – but botched the snap and hold.
George Mac’s defining play of the opening half was a 30-yard run by Smith, which was called back on a holding penalty. Bert Church’s Fraser Hunter had another field goal attempt, this time from 45 yards out, but it fell 10 yards short. The Mustangs gave him another shot from 35 yards after taking a penalty, but it was blocked.
“It’s sort of typical of how the second half of our season went,” Kirk said. “You make a good play and don’t pay attention to detail. That’s something our guys need to understand. I hope our guys take the opportunity to use this game as a learning point. You have to take advantage of opportunities and not let them pass by.”
Legault alternated between Grade 10 quarterback Jordan Groves and Grade 12 quarterback Jordan McKenzie for much of the game, but it was Smith who predominantly handled the ball for George Mac.
“We had Jordan Groves in there quite a bit of the game, he’s a Grade 10 quarterback, and he did a great job,” Legault said. “We realized very quickly that going to the air wasn’t going to help us, so we just kept the ball on the ground and kept pushing that way. At the end it was just put it in Smith’s hands going one way and put it in Smith’s hands going the other way. He had a lot of fun out there after being out for two or three weeks with injuries. And our line really stepped up and helped us out a ton.”
A series of short drives by both teams culminated with Bert Church’s failed third down gamble, on its own 25-yard line with less than four minutes remaining, setting up the Mustangs’ touchdown with 2:05 left in the game.
“We had already taken a few third down gambles and they worked really well, so we just had to keep the legs going and make it all the way there,” Smith said. “We weren’t expecting the hole to be that big, but my fullback Addison Williamson made a ridiculous block for me, the O line spread it out and I was able to punch it right through.”
George Mac will travel to Springbank on Oct. 29 for the RVSA Tier 2 gold final. Game time is 4:30 p.m. at Springbank High School. Concurrently, the Chargers will host the Chestermere Cowboys at Genesis Place field in the bronze final.
