The first edition of this year’s cross-city football rivalry between the George McDougall Mustangs and the Bert Church Chargers will take place at Genesis Place at 5 p.m. on Sept. 3, but it won’t be a full regular season game or a normal exhibition game.
With an anomaly in this year’s schedule, marking the two teams only scheduled to play once, both coaches decided to co-ordinate the pre-season encounter.
“We realize the value of the cross-town rivalry and what is does for not only the players on the team, but for the schools and for the community as a whole,” said Mustangs head coach Brent Legault. “We still wanted to have the second game, so we said ‘what if we made this an exhibition-style game. But the referees will be there and we’re still going to run it like a regular game.”
There will be no kickoffs, extra points or field goal attempts, with the ball being placed on the opposition’s 35-yard line after scoring plays. Punting will be allowed.
Legault said his team, which will feature 30 returning players from last year, has been busy preparing for the last week.
“The players are coming back energized and ready to go,” he said. “We’ve had a fantastic turnout and the first day of school just happened. It makes it very easy for us to coach and get all of the information out that we need to. Hopefully that will translate into a good year for us.”
The Mustangs lost 21 Grade 12 players to graduation last year, but will be returning players in a number of the skill positions, as well as the offensive and defensive lines.
“Our o-line and d-line are looking pretty strong, as we have a lot of size there,” Legault said.
“Our running backs are all returning, which is another strong area. Our receiving corps is relatively new, but they’ve been demonstrating some great skills already. We have three guys all trying out for quarterback, who are all relatively new. From the talent I’ve seen coming in, they are more than willing to give it a shot. Overall, we’re excited.”
