Alberta defeats host New Brunswick to end opening day

After jumping out to a 71-6 halftime lead, defending silver medalist Alberta defeated host New Brunswick 79-6 in the 3^rd game of the 2013 Football Canada Cup at Moncton’s Rocky Stone Field.

New Brunswick who finished in 8^th place in 2012 were in tough against a strong offensive Alberta squad who racked up 579 total yards on offense.

Already up by a field goal early in the first half, a 52-yard Quinn Polley touchdown run made the score 10-0 at 6:14 of the 1^st quarter.

A Colton Hunchak 75-yard run made the score 18-0 at 4:36 of the opening quarter. To close out the 1^st quarter, Hunchak connected on a 13-yard pass to Brennan McNeil to make the score 26-0.

Alex Cho added a pair of touchdown runs (from 12 and 35-yards respectively) to put Alberta up by 40.

A Vuyani Ndhlovu field goal, followed by a second Quinn Polley rushing touchdown (this time from 41-yards) put Alberta up by 50 with 2:41 to play in the second quarter.

Alberta added rushing touchdowns from Tyler Chow and Quinn Polley to make the score 64-0.

The host province rallied back with under a minute and a half to play in the 2^nd quarter after a 30-yard Jake Ball kick-off return gave the host province a first down at the 36-yard line. A 7-yard Andrew Crawford keeper set-up a Jake Ball run across midfield into Alberta territory. On the following play, Crawford found receiver Kyle McClusky on a 50-yard completion down the sideline, setting up 1^st and goal. An Alberta pass interference call on 3^rd and goal gave NB a fresh set of downs at the Alberta 1-yard line. With 1.5 seconds left to play a 1-yard Jake Ball rush broke the Alberta shutout.

On the following kick-off, Alberta running back Tyler Chow added an 80-yard return for a touchdown to make the halftime score 71-6.

A 53-yard Ben Kopczynsk quarterback keeper made the score 78-6 while a rouge following a missed field goal brought the game to a 79-6 final.

With the win Alberta will face Ontario at 4 PM (AT) on Thursday while New Brunswick enters the mini round-robin at 11 AM on Thursday along with Nova Scotia and Manitoba.

Players of the game:
New Brunswick

Offensive #23 Jake Ball                 Defensive #45 Mitch Deware

Alberta

Offensive: #7 Tyler Chow             Defensive #45 Micah Teitz