From the Telegraph Journal
Saint John Wanderers edged the Riverview Mustangs 34-31 in the Maritime Football League’s New Brunswick Conference final here Saturday.
Wanderers scored the winning touchdown with just five seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
Quarterback Jon Hachey delivered a 35-yard touchdown pass to Mike Thomas for the deciding major. Saint John will now visit the Dartmouth Knights in the Maritime Bowl league championship game Saturday at 4 p.m. Dartmouth downed the Halifax Shockers 31-20 in the Eastern Conference final on Saturday. In Saint John, the New Brunswick final came down to a thrilling finish for the second straight season Saturday. Moncton Marshals edged the Wanderers 29-27 on a last minute touchdown in the conference final a year ago. Most players from last year’s Moncton team are now with expansion Riverview.
The final two minutes of the game saw three touchdowns.
Saint John scored a major and added a two-point conversion to go ahead 28-24 with two minutes remaining.
Mustangs took the lead again with 1:11 on the clock when quarterback J.R. Gallant threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Steve Cormier to make it 31-28 Riverview.
Then in the dying seconds, the Wanderers clinched the victory with Hachey’s touchdown pass to Thomas.
Hachey and Jon Haines each had two touchdowns for Saint John, which trailed 23-20 at halftime.
Wanderers head coach Wayne Tipper said his team made key offensive adjustments throughout the game.
“We started off with a real ball control type of offence then we spread them out by passing and running the ball wide,”
Tipper said.
“That was our game plan going in,”
he said.
“We knew that Riverview had a great team with a lot of great athletes and we had to spread them out.”
Other Mustangs touchdowns came from Cormier, on a one-yard run, Gallant, on a four-yard run, and Chris Sparks, on a 10-yard fumble recovery. Kyle Sutton kicked a 31- yard field goal in the loss.
Mitt Pittman had a pair of sacks and Paul Best forced two fumbles and recovered another for Riverview.