Rick Rivers Report 2024- Vol 7: Dalhousie Delivers on Destiny

It was true fall football weather, cool, cloudy and with a breeze as the 2024 AFL championship game began. The Dal Tigers delivered a coaches’ dream first half at Wickwire Field. Justin Vogels, mimicked Ted Wickwire, probably Dalhousie’s best ever QB, throwing three TD passes in the first Q, giving the black and gold, a 28-0 lead and the eventual AFL title, 48-23, over the defending champions, the University of New Brunswick Reds.

During the post game victory reception, head coach Andre Goguen, repeatedly said “it was you”, referring to the players who won the game. Reference was made to their hard work and commitment through camps, practice and the regular season games. They had played a near perfect first half on “O”, “D” and specialty teams to take a 33-2 half time lead. The Tigers would receive to start the second half.

Back to Vogels and the “O”. Dal’s usually well balance attack, came out with an aerial bombardment. Number 2’s touch on many long pass completions from the pocket, and the lasers he threw to the sidelines on athletic rollouts, had the Reds’ defence stymied. Congratsto “OC” Zwicker and his coaches on their game plan.

Dalhousie’s first major came after two long completions, the second to Riley Beazley which set up Caden Quong’s short TD run. The scoring summary continued with passing 6’s to Ethan Mason and two to Ethan Lord. Liam Masner converted all Dal TDs, had a FG blocked, but made a 30 yarder with 28 seconds remaining in the half. That three was made possible by a 30 yard Vogels’ scramble to give the good field position. The remaining 2 came on a safety touch forced by the Tigers’ “D”.

An Aaron Hicks INT and fine runback of a Vogels’ error put Dal’s defence in an unenviable position. But a comedy of errors, caused 2 Reds’ fumbles inside the black and gold 5, and deservedly gave Dal possession in this red zone stop. Logan Steeves and Liam Chesari had a number of sacks and solo tackles. Matt Irvine had one of the biggest hits for the Tigers and a few minor, but important strikes, as did Enos Mile and Christian Riley.

At the beginning of the second half, momentum began to shift away from the Dal Tigers as Dante Gabrielli’s lost fumble gave the Reds good field position. Jonah Rawlines, UNB’s QB, scored on a 32 yard scramble. Gabrielli redeemed himself with an exciting return to the Reds 50 on the ensuing kickoff. The UNB defence would hold and Irvine managed a punt single to put the Tigers up 34-8. The red and black responded with a 6 from Matt LeFleur and a two point convert from Nick Parker closing the gap to 18 points.

Mason became a special team hero as he managed to hold onto a short kickoff when flattened by a Reds’ defender. Injured on the play he managed to walk off the field. I am sure many of the Dalhousie fans were reflecting on the Tigers 18 point comeback in Fredericton in the last 10 minutes of the 4th Q, to win the AFL title in 2022. This game was still in the 3rd quarter.

Black and gold fans became a little more comfortable as Vogels hit Lord for a major at the 11:40 mark of the 4th Q. On the identical play before the TD catch, Lord had been questionably called out of bounds, negating the major. The victory celebration in the stands was starting at 4:15, when Vogels amazingly threw his fifth TD pass, the 4th to Lord. From my vast Dalhousie football knowledge, Vogels 5th probably tied a school record, but Lord’s catch was a record. Between those Tiger TDs, Jace Taylor caught an aerial six from Rawlines. Final score Dal 48, Reds 23.

This football season will go down as “the Year of the Tiger” as the Dalhousians finished undefeated at 7-0. This young coaching staff is already looking to hopefully repeat in 2025. This 15th anniversary edition of the New Era Dalhousie Tigers, will only lose 4 players from this fifth AFL Championship team. Destiny has been delivered and one might even call the Tigers a dynasty as they have won titles in 2016, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2024, while 2020 did not see a championship because of Covid.

Every once in a while, I jokingly call Dalhousie’s New Era football founder, Jim Wilson, Mr. Kraft. His efforts even have Kraft like championship results. Wilson’s original goal was to bring “FUN and FOOTBALL” back to the Dal campus. That has been achieved and more. He has created a football community on campus. Not just of players, but of student volunteers who help with the planning of day to day operations. He believes these individuals receive invaluable life time experience which will aid in their future endeavours. So, players, coaches, trainers and volunteers, thank him next time you see him! JIm always ends anything he sends out with GO TIGERS!

THANKS MR. WILSON!

AFL COMMISSIONER, LARRY WISNIEWSKI
I would be remiss if I didn’t add one more thank you and that is to our retiring AFL head. I first met Larry over 15 years ago as I presented Dal’s application to join the Atlantic Football League. At that time he was a representative for the UNBF team. For over ten years this gentleman and scholarly administrator has been a shining light in the development of the AFL. THANKS AND HAVE A HAPPY RETIREMENT from your DALHOUSIE FRIENDS!

GO Tigers!