Sackville (NB) - Football New Brunswick and Mount Allison Mounties Athletics and Recreation are pleased to announce a partnership that will see Mount Allison become the ‘Football NB Centre for High Performance’ through to 2019. 

The three-year partnership between the two groups will allow for more collaboration and support between Football NB’s provincial team program and the Mounties Football program.  Principal to the deal will be Football NB’s commitment to host six to eight provincial team program events at Mount Allison’s brand new state-of-the-art Alumni Field in Sackville.  Alumni Field was officially opened in September of 2015, giving Mount Allison its first artificial turf field in the school’s history.

“Football NB is always looking to add value to its provincial programs,” commented Football NB Executive Director, Josh Harris.  “By partnering with Mount Allison, we are now able to work together to educate players and showcase what it takes to play in the CIS. We hope these annual visits to Mount Allison will motivate the province’s best football talent to set their sights on CIS competition.“

In addition to finding a home for provincial team programming, Football NB will also benefit from access to sessions and support with Mounties coaching staff as well as access to Mounties training facilities, video meeting rooms, and other facilities while on campus.  With the partnership, Mount Allison and the Town of Sackville have secured the opportunity to host six to eight Football NB events per year that will range in participation from 40 to 120 players per event and will include exhibition games with Team Nova Scotia and Team Quebec.

“We are thrilled to announce this partnership with Football NB and we are very proud to be known as Football NB’s High Performance Centre,” says Pierre Arsenault, Director of Athletics and Recreation for Mount Allison.  “We are excited to welcome New Brunswick’s best and brightest players to our campus in the coming years.”

Mounties Football head coach Scott Brady echoed this excitement by saying “There is a great tradition of having top New Brunswick football players in our Mounties Football program.  We are excited to formalize this important relationship.  We have always valued the critical role of our home grown players in our program and we are looking forward to an even stronger relationship with Football New Brunswick.”

This announcement also represents a valuable opportunity for the Town of Sackville.  “I want to congratulate Mount Allison University on this new three-year partnership with Football NB,” said Sackville Mayor Robert Berry.  “We are very pleased to host the players and families in our beautiful town. This partnership will certainly have a positive economic impact on the entire community and is yet another reminder that our continued support for each other on various initiatives is critical to the success for both Mount Allison University and the Town of Sackville.”

The Mounties are no strangers to the Football NB provincial team program, with several former players having spent time with Team NB.  Andre Goguen (Dieppe, NB), Michael Bohan (Sackville, NB), Rob Baxter (Moncton, NB), Kyle Horsman (Moncton, NB), Josh Hicks (Moncton, NB), Ross McCormack (Sackville, NB), Sawyer King (Saint John, NB) and Alex Doyle (Dieppe, NB) have all played for Team NB.  In addition, 2016 recruits Ian Carty (Fredericton, NB) and Dylan Cormier (Sackville, NB) are former Team NB members.

The Mount Allison Mounties Football program is the only CIS football program in New Brunswick. The Mounties are coming off back-to-back AUS championships in 2013 and 2014, the 5th and 6th league championships in program history.  In 2014, the Mounties completed the first undefeated regular season in school history, going 8-0 en route to their 2nd straight AUS championship.  The Mounties finished the 2014 season ranked 6th in the CIS. 

 Photo caption – Mounties head coach Scott Brady poses with Team NB Head Coach Chris Hopkins, members of the Team NB staff, Team NB players and Mounties players who are former Team NB players.