By Matt Conrad , Sports Columnist
It was an exciting build up to the end of the season that unfortunately did not go the way the Halifax Harbour Hawks would have liked.
First the Hawks travelled to play the Razors in New Brunswick. This was a huge game as it would determine who had a shot for second place and who would claim fourth. It started out a bit rocky, but the Hawks had a huge second half come back and won 26-13!
The next week was basically a playoff game. The Saint John Wanderers came to Halifax in what would be the tightest game of the season. A back-and-forth battle that was perhaps the most exciting game of the whole regular season. It looked like heading into the half it would be 7-6 for the Wanderers but the Hawks scored with thirty-nine second left in the half to make it 14-7. The Hawks came out flying in the second half. With 4 minutes left in the game the Hawks scored again to take the lead 20-14. The Hawks just had to stop 1 final drive to finish in second and claim a home game for the playoffs. Unfortunately, even after having the Wanderers on fourth down twice, the Wanderers drove down and scored with less than a minute left. The Hawks had 49 seconds to drive the field and take the game. However, it was not to be, and the game would end 21-20 for the Wanderers.
This meant Halifax would travel to play the Wanderers the following week in the playoffs. Halifax wanted revenge on a team they truly felt they could beat, but that was not to be. The Wanderers handed the Hawks a 23-10 loss to end the Hawks season.
With a Moncton Mustangs slaughter of the Razors, 76-6 to be exact, this meant Moncton would be playing Saint John in the MFL final for the Maritime Bowl. The Moncton Mustangs proved why they were the team to beat the last 3 years with an undefeated season and capping it off with an impressive 54-20 win over the Wanderers. They are now the 3-peat champions of the MFL.
Congratulations to the Moncton Mustangs for one heck of a season! I look forward to playing again next year and covering the league for the Parkview News. Many thanks to our readers! I hope to see you out at the games next year!
Photos credit to:
By https://maritimefootballle.wixsite.com/maritimefootballleag, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70934222
https://www.facebook.com/MonctonMustangs
