Rens show promise to home town fans

Late November will bring the Grey Cup to Frank Clair Stadium, as the Renegade Football club hosts this year’s celebration of Canadian Football excellence. If Wednesday night’s pre-season game was any indication, there is every chance that the hometown team may actually be on the field for the kick off on that fall afternoon.

Kerry Joseph showed why he’s earned the respect of Joe Paopao and his staff and how he’s become the Renegades starting quarterback. Joseph took over the reigns of the Rens offence in the third quarter, finding hometown receiver Pat Woodcock and last years acquisition Yo Murphy in the end zone to put fourteen points on the board, all on the way to a 28 – 24 victory over the Montreal Alouettes. Josephs contribution to exhibition football was 125 passing yards, a completion rate of 8 of 10 and of course the two all important touch downs. Showing why the crowd of 21,450 is excited about his continual improvement at the pivot position.

To be fair to the Alouettes who are perennial contenders in the East, they did not use QB Anthony Calvillo in the game, preferring to get a close look at the abilities of back up Tavares Bolden. Bolden ran into a stingy Renegade defence that shut down his attack through the game, including an impressive goal line stand when the Renegades turned back the Alouette attack three times from the five yard line.

Renegade back up quarterbacks got their fair share of reps in the first half as Darnell Kennedy and Brad Banks tried to find their place in the Renegade line up. Neither of the two, shone particularly bright so the back up spot is probably still a fluid thing in the Rens camp. Mind you the two didn’t have the “A” team of offensive lines in front of them, yet they did help to give the Renegades the lead at the half by a score of 13-10.

For a first full contact game against real competition the results were favorable for the Rens, they return the favor for the Als next week when they wrap up the exhibition season at McGill stadium in Montreal. But after one game things are looking good for the Renegades and their fans, the parade route blue prints are waiting. We’ll start at the Rideau Centre, work our way down Wellington to Bank and down to Frank Clair, you can almost see the convertibles on the horizon.