Fort Frances 35 – Kenora 0 (Friday September 20)
Friday the Fort Frances Muskies stayed undefeated with 35 – nothing victory over the Kenora Beaver Brae Broncos at the 75th annual Homecoming game.
The Muskie defense pitched their 2nd shutout in a row. The defense forced several Kenora fumbles and got 2 interceptions from Chase Whitecrow and one each from Griffin Webb and Peyton Cousineau.
Webb led the scoring with 3 touchdowns. Webb opened the scoring on a short run. Then he returned a Kenora punt 75 yards and finished that drive with a short touchdown run to extend the lead to 12 – nothing. Both convert attempts were missed. Kenora surrendered a safety to increase the Muskie lead to 14. The Muskie offensive line was dominant with the team averaging almost 10 yards each running play and a total of 300 yards on the ground. Senior running backs Jaxon Strachan, Blake and Alex Kreger had strong games again. Blake broke a number of Bronco tackles on his way to a 65 yard scoring run and kicked the convert for a 21 point lead at halftime. In the second half, Blake Kreger scored his second touchdown on a short run and booted the convert for a 28 point advantage. Webb capped the scoring on a 21 yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Milo Stafford. Kreger’s extra point made the final 35 – nothing. The Muskies fielded their largest roster in years with 50 players on the team and many grade 9 and 10 athletes got to play in front of a few hundred fans.
Before kickoff, the Muskie players shook hands with the gathered alumni to thank them for their contributions. Four football alumni legends were Honorary Game Captains for Homecoming. Dale Ross, Rick Wiedenhoeft, Jack Hedman, and Jeff Treftlin joined the captains of both teams at midfield. Ross, who quarterbacked the first Muskie championship team in 1953 performed the coin toss.
At halftime Nick Beyak the owner of Sunset Country Ford announced that the dealership was donating $5,600 to Muskie football from the record setting test drive promotion held the previous day.
The Muskies play their final home game of the season Thursday September 26 at 3 o’clock when they host the Tec Voc Hornets from Winnipeg. The game will be a battle for sole possession of first place in the AAA Division of the Winnipeg High School Football League. Both teams are undefeated in 3 games.