Fratmen pitch shutout in season debut

by Rob Benneian

The Windsor AKO Fratmen are coming into the 2012 Canadian Junior Football League season with a point to prove.

The Twin Cities Predators were the unlucky bunch to draw the short straw of facing them first.

The Fratmen suffered a humbling 42-6 loss last year in the Ontario Football Conference finals to the Hamilton Hurricanes following an undefeated regular season. This time around, they are refusing to settle for anything less than a championship victory.

Head coach Mike LaChance said at the team’s media day three weeks ago his defense had an opportunity to be the best in the CJFL, which encompasses the OFC, the British Columbia Football Conference and the Prairie Football Conference. Following a season opening 33-0 blanking of the Predators, he said he liked the promise this defense shows.

“We knew our defense would be good coming out,” LaChance said. “They didn’t play as well as we wanted them to, took a lot of bad angles, gave up a lot of big plays even though we pitched a shutout. We expect them to be better than that.”

The Fratmen were without starting defensive end Dan Jacobs, who missed the game with a concussion. Jacobs had six quarterback sacks in 2011, but even without one of their premiere pass rushers, the Fratmen were able to pressure Predators quarterback Corey Prince all game long. If not for a slew of penalty flags against the Fratmen, the score could have been even more lopsided.

“Penalties for unnecessary roughing, we’ll take because we play hard,” LaChance said. “We know that’s the nature of the beast with us, the way we coach it and the way we play hard.”

Veenstra: We wanted to send a message

At times during the game, there was more laundry on the Knight-Newbrough Field than a teenager’s bedroom. However, the vocal leader of the Fratmen defense, Richard Veenstra, a second year player out of Vincent Massey Secondary School, said his team could live with a few penalty flags.

“We really wanted to set the tone and send a message to everyone that we’re coming here and we’re ready to bang whatever comes at us,” the All-Canadian defensive back said. “That’s what I try to do with the defense, I try to get everyone hyped up, get everyone to where they’re supposed to be.”

No Beau? No problem

Last year, Fratmen running back Beau Lumley rushed for 1129 yards on his way to CJFL Rookie of the Year honours, but he will likely miss the entire 2012 season with a hip injury.

The biggest question, perhaps the only question mark on a Fratmen team fresh off a trip to the championship game is who exactly is going to run the ball and shoulder some of the load for OFC All-Conference quarterback Christian Hackney. The answer, for one game at least, came from the most unlikely of sources.

Robb Matton missed most of the 2011 season with a myriad of injuries, including a pair of high ankle sprains and a shoulder separation. When he did hit the field, he hardly touched the ball on offense, registering just 92 yards of offense for the entire season. In fact, this season Matton was expecting to compete for a spot in the Fratmen defensive secondary, but with a glut of talented players there and a position of need at running back, he found himself as the week one starting running back.

“I played slotback last year, but I was injured every other week. I was kind of a write-off last season,” Matton said. “I played a lot of defense in high school, and that’s what I was coming out for this year. I played defense the first three weeks of training camp, and then just made the switch to running back this week. It’s not working out too bad right now.”

The Fratmen will host the Brampton Bears in their home opener Sunday, August 19 at 3 p.m. at Windsor Stadium.