Monarchs cut down by Buccaneers

By Eric
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Updated: June 5, 2016

Fort McMurray Monarchs running back Melvin Abankwah, middle, attempts to fight his way past defenders from the Central Alberta Buccaneers Saturday night at Fuhr Field in Spruce Grove. Robert Murray/Fort McMurray Today/Postmedia Network

Robert Murray – Fort McMurray Today – Sunday, June 5, 2016

No one officiating crew should have all that power. The clock was ticking; 60 minutes of football took three-and-a-half hours.

When the marathon game ended, the Central Alberta Buccaneers prevailed by a close 43-42 margin over the Fort McMurray Monarchs Saturday at Fuhr Sports Park in Spruce Grove, dropping the Monarchs to 1-1 on the season.

Admitting mistakes “killed” his team, Monarchs head coach Dave Spence had some choice words for the men in black and white, who factored into the outcome more than they should have.

“Horrendous,” said Spence summing it up. “You never want to leave the game to the officials, but there was some blatant calls [against us] and missed calls. It’s inexcusable at this level.”

Depsite the Monarchs not looking like themselves and the Buccaneers playing well above the level they were at in last year’s semi-final loss in Fort McMurray, it wasn’t either team’s performance, but rather the officiating crew, that dominated discussion.

What may come off as a few sour grapes for the team on the wrong side of a one-point loss, was close to a rotten vineyard.

The Monarchs took some deserved penalties, but an offensive pass intereference call on a thrown ball neither player was going to get to went against the Monarchs. A tackle of a player with possession of the ball was immediately flagged for unecessary roughness, despite the Buccaneers player entering the red zone with the catch, making him an obvious threat to score. From there, the team’s problems snowballed.

“It’s men’s league football so you just take what’s there,” said Buccaneers head coach Devon Hand. “I think we could’ve done a better job in how we handled that, because I find if the calls go sideways then you’re bench gets reactive and that makes things worse.”

A perfect storm of situations hit the Monarchs all at once Saturday. Buccaneers quarterback Brandon Leyh found ways to bypass the Monarchs’ defence all night, finidng open targets for short, but smart gains.

Those smart gains paid off for the Bucs early on as they got on the board first thanks to a short pass to receiver Major Newman, who evaded the one man covering him and danced into the endzone.

The Monarchs did find their chance to get their hits in on Leyh, and made them count, sending him to the ground with a thud several times. Each time though, Leyh and the Buccaneers would rise back up.

“We were flexible, bend, but didn’t break on defence,” added Hand. “I thought our offence stole the show. Leyh made some incredible plays, coming out of the pocket when he was turned around, shoving guys off and firing the ball down field. He helped us a lot.”

Stopped on their first series, the Monarchs’ offence that had dazzled last week were faced with a stiff challenge in their second week together. Quarterback Charles Drinkard was responsible for a few fumbles over the game, but that wasn’t the straw that broke the Monarchs’ back.

Communication, at points, appeared to be off as receivers wound up short of balls, or the offensive line snapped the ball over Drinkard’s head. In the end, it all added up to the team’s first regular season loss in almost a year.

“Hats off to Red Deer, they played a great game,” added Spence. “Our guys fought to the end, but mental mistakes hurt us when it counted.”

The Monarchs open the road portion of their schedule next weekend against the Airdrie Irish before returning home to Shell Place June 18.

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