Crocus blown out by Grant Park

The Grant Park Pirates effort against the Crocus Plainsmen was nothing short of a beatdown, plain and simple.

The Pirates (3-2) scored at will against Crocus (1-4) en route to a 59-15 blowout in their Winnipeg High School Football League game at Crocus on Friday afternoon to extend the Plainsmens losing streak to four. It appeared Grant Park might run up the scoreboard early after the Pirates scored two touchdowns within the first two drives of the game thanks to quarterback Alex Balasko — who never showed any signs of slowing down — and the team’s stingy defence.

Balasko found wide receiver Ryder Hlady all alone for a 30-yard reception to take the Pirates deep into Crocus territory before running it in himself to draw first blood for his club. They pulled off an aggressive move to fake the kick and go for two points, which also paid off after finding a receiver by himself in the end zone to give Grant Park an 8-0 lead.

Crocus punt returner Eric Singfat had an impressive 70-yard run, moving all the way to the Pirates 20-yard line after breaking some tackles, but a flag on the play due to a holding penalty negated what would have been a huge point in the game for Crocus. The Plainsmen fumbled the ball the following play and gave up another touchdown after Grant Park recovered the ball for a 30-yard run to make it 15-0.

Crocus’ next drive might as well have been the “Muqtadir Apena show,” as the running back notched two consecutive 30-yard runs after breaking tackles left and right thanks to his unbelievable strength.

On first and goal, Apena did it all himself again, driving into the end zone after QB Joe Makori handed it off for an inside run to get Crocus on the board for the first time to make it 15-7. That was about as close as his team would get, though.

Balasko’s strong arm relentlessly launched deep throws behind Crocus’ defence all game and connected with wide receivers Nick Armstrong, Mateo Carmena-Canton, and Hlady to push closer to the end zone multiple times in just a few plays.

Grant Park returned the favour to make it a two-score game again after Hlady recorded a couple more 20-yard receptions before running back Alex Weiss finished things off with a 40-yard run to the end zone after some sloppy tackles from the Plainsmen.

During Grant Park’s next drive during the second quarter, Balasko threw another beautiful dart to Armstrong, who showed off his athleticism with a diving catch into the end zone to make it 29-7 for the away club. Apena responded for Crocus by managing a few more deep runs to get it just past midfield, and then Makori followed that up with a high-flying pass to Maurice Chartrand, who almost lost a handle of the ball but then recovered to secure the 35-yard reception touchdown for the Plainsmen.

Makori successfully pulled off the QB sneak for the extra point to make it a 29-15 game for Grant Park, but that didn’t last very long, as Balasko kept things rolling for his Grant Park offence with another deep bomb into the end zone for six more points before finishing it off with a kick through the uprights.

Apena tried his best to get his team back in the game with a 60-yard run the next play, but Crocus had nothing to show for it after he and Makori found the end zone in back-to-back downs but had both called back due to holding penalties, which proved to be more than costly.

“The penalties really brought us down, like, really brought us down emotionally, I think,” said Apena post-game. “We’re definitely trying to get the penalties down, so it will help us in our games, and so we’ve definitely been working on it in practice.”

Crocus was guilty of more than a handful of penalties, which really could have turned the tides of how the result shaped up to be.

In the second half of play, Weiss recorded his second touchdown of the game after angling defenders off with an outside run, and then Balasko showed off his signature hail Mary throw for what must have been the 10th one of the game, adding another passing touchdown to the scoresheet for a 50-15 score.

Balasko capped off a stellar night with one last handoff to Weiss, who also had a night to remember after adding his third and final touchdown of the game to put an end to a merciless game.

The Plainsmen were clearly just outclassed by a better team, but the bright side is the play of Apena, who racked up more than 130 rushing yards in the game and consistently showed off his strength by seemingly needing four or five defenders to take him down on every run.

“It was just the same thing I do every game, just doing what I do best,” Apena said of his performance. “I try to be dominant with offence, and I’ve practiced this, so it’s not just something I got, I earned it through my hard work and training this summer.”

Apena and his squad will want to have a short memory and turn the page quickly after Friday’s matchup, as they will face one of the league’s best in the Dakota Lancers (4-1) in Winnipeg next week. He knows they will have to put more than their best foot forward for that contest.

“They’re one of the best teams in the province, so we’re going to definitely go hard,” he said. “That’s what we want, that’s what I want, so we need to be ready for that.”

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com