Hurricanes rally to win home opener

The Holland College Hurricanes remain undefeated after beating the UNB Fredericton Red Bombers 37-20 Sunday afternoon at the UPEI Alumni Canada Games Place.

The Hurricanes struck on their first possession of the game. After a long kickoff return by Stephen Knapton, running back Jamal Storr punched in a three-yard touchdown. Following back-and-forth changes in possession, UNB forced two safeties and then marched down the field to score a field goal, tying the game at seven.

The Red Bombers came knocking at their door again, but the Hurricanes’ defence shut them down on their four-yard line. With less than three minutes left to go in the first quarter, Hurricanes receiver Xavier Hanna found the end zone after catching a 50-yard pass from quarterback Christian Hackney.

Hurricanes Jay Dearborn’s kick sailed into the end zone, earning them another point. The score was 16-7 at half time.

Late in the third quarter, Storr scored his second touchdown of the night on an 85-yard run. Several minutes later, Holland College defensive back Brandon Whitman intercepted Red Bombers’ Brendon Cornford’s pass 90 yards for the score.

Hurricanes linebacker Cardell Rolle said his defence’s intensity increased after that play.

“We played our best defence, put our personnel in the right places and made some big plays,” he said.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Cornford completed several passes before connecting with receiver Mitch McCoy, but the Hurricanes scored on their next possession to extend their lead 37-14.

With two minutes to go in the game, Taylor Thorne, the Hurricane’s backup quarterback threw a lateral pass to running back Layton Aitken, but it was intercepted and returned for a touchdown.

Hurricanes head coach, Andrew Hickey, said his team was able to stay motivated the entire game.

“The mood was up and the momentum was up. We have a lot of good guys out there and I think we could have come up with the win even if we were behind.”

The Hurricanes improve to 2-0, while the Red Bombers drop to 0-2. Holland College will try to remain undefeated next weekend, when they take on the Dalhousie Tigers at UPEI Canada Games Alumni Place on Saturday, September 27.