SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — Summerside’s tackle football teams continued their dominance on Saturday.
The Clippers and Spartans rode outstanding defensive performances in repeating as their respective league champions.
The Clippers defeated the Charlottetown Privateers 32-6 to win their sixth straight Potato Bowl. The win ties the Clippers with the Souris Wildcats for the most consecutive P.E.I. Varsity Tackle Football League championships. The Wildcats’ run went from 2008 to 2013.
“We’re going for seven next year,” said Clippers head coach John Turner.
With the Clippers graduating only six players on its 26-man roster, Turner is optimistic about the future.
“We have a good crop of bantams and Grade 9s coming up,” he said. “We are not going anywhere soon.”
This year marked the Clippers' ninth straight appearance in the Potato Bowl.
Potato Bowl
A look at the past 10 winners of the Football P.E.I. Potato Bowl varsity champs:
- 2020 Summerside Clippers
- 2019 Summerside Clippers
- 2018 Summerside Clippers
- 2017 Summerside Clippers
- 2016 Summerside Clippers
- 2015 Summerside Clippers
- 2014 Charlottetown Privateers
- 2013 Souris Wildcats
- 2012 Souris Wildcats
- 2011 Souris Wildcats
Bantams
In bantam play, the Spartans shut out the Charlottetown Silver Privateers 33-0 to win their third straight Ed Hilton Bowl. It was the Spartans’ seventh provincial title in the last eight years and the club's eighth in 10 years.
“Our defence dominated the whole year,” said Spartans head coach Brian Goguen. “To give up no points in 6-man (football) is pretty tough.
“In 6-man, it’s usually high scoring, but our defence was swarming all over the field. They couldn’t get much going against us. It was like that all year. I think we only gave up four or five touchdowns all year.”
Goguen said the Hilton Bowl was much closer than the final score would indicate. He pointed out it was a 6-0 game until the Spartans scored a touchdown at the end of the second quarter to take a 12-0 lead into halftime.
“A few momentum swings here and there would have made a huge difference,” said Goguen.
Overall, the Spartans completed the 2020 season a perfect 6-0 (won-lost). The resumé included a 4-0 regular season and a 34-7 semifinal win over the Cornwall Timberwolves in the semifinals.
“It’s been a great season and a great group of kids,” said Goguen, who added it was tough saying good-bye to the team’s seven seniors.
"We told them from the first practice, ‘This is your team. You’re the seniors, you’re going to be playing more. You have to teach the young guys how to… play the game,’” said Goguen. “We won a championship every single year for the last three, and it's nice to see them moving onto varsity but sad to see them go at the same time.”
Hilton Bowl
A look at the past 10 winners of the Football P.E.I. Ed Hilton Bowl bantam champs:
- 2020 Summerside Spartans
- 2019 Summerside Spartans
- 2018 Summerside Spartans
- 2017 Cornwall Timberwolves
- 2016 Summerside Spartans
- 2015 Summerside Spartans
- 2014 Summerside Spartans
- 2013 Summerside Spartans
- 2012 Charlottetown Privateers
- 2011 Summerside Spartans
Clippers
Turner described the Clippers’ effort in the Potato Bowl as a total team effort. He said all three phases – offence, defence and special teams – contributed in a big way.
“We played lights out,” said Clippers defensive co-ordinator Brian Doucet. “We knew the offence had some good practices, and we had some new plays that we were confident would result in some good yardage.
“(The Privateers) were coming off scoring 49 points in the semifinal against Cornwall, and we figured if we could hold them to one touchdown a quarter, four touchdowns for the game, we would have a chance because we were expecting our offence to get five or six.”
The Clippers gave up one touchdown in the first quarter and shut them down the rest of the way. Although the Privateers had a few long drives inside Summerside’s 10-yard line, the defence held. Doucet called it a team effort by the defence.
“We didn’t have as many gang tackles all year as we did (Saturday),” said Doucet. “They were all flying to the ball, three, four, five guys in on the tackles,”