Oct 28 Football Report: NRHSAA; NCAA; OUA; Niagara Generals
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated the St. Francis Phoenix 50-0 Friday to finish the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association senior football season unbeaten. Photo by WILLIAM VANDERLAND.
The Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs clinched third place in Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Tier 1 senior football action Friday with a 33-0 shutout victory over the Westlane Spartans.
The Bulldogs (2-4) will travel to the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons (4-2) in one seminal match and the Spartans (0-6) will play a road game against the defending champion A.N. Myer Marauders (6-0) in the other. Both games will be played Friday at 7 p.m.
Grade 11 Churchill quarterback Ryan Cormier made the most of his first start after two relief appearances by passing for 295 yards and four touchdown passes against Westlane. Josh Morley had a pair of 50-yard TD catches and 30-yard TD grabs were recorded by Ahmed Gismelseed and Noah Dommasch. Danny Ferguson completed the scoring with a two-yard TD run. Churchill also had three majors called back because of holding penalties.
Also contributing to the Bulldog victory were: Deondre Pinder and Morley with interceptions; Nick Beaudoin with a pair of fumble recoveries; and, De’Ondre Forde with 26 rushing yards.
“We got some of our injured guys back which was really nice,” Churchill head coach Peter Perron said.
Unfortunately, Dimitri Chrispo had four solo tackles but broke his leg on the fourth one.
“They were just boomers,” Perron said. “He was having a helluva game.”
The Bulldogs head into the playoffs with a feeling they can compete with the other teams. They lost 20-14 to GFESS in their first meeting of the season and lost 27-6 to Myer in their first meeting of the season, after trailing 10-6 at the half. Then the injuries piled up.
“When we are healthy, we match up,” Perron said. “When we didn’t have our guys, we got decimated a bit.
“You hang in there a bit and it’s not a blowout, but then you make mistakes at the wrong time because of the inexperience.”
Perron feels his squad will be a lot more competitive if it can get everyone back.
“They’re both well-coached teams and you have to match the coaching, but you have to have the talent too.”
Churchill is much improved from the team that gave up a touchdown on almost every possession in a seminal loss against Myer last season.
“We were basically a Grade 10 and 11 team last year with very few Grade 12s and we have matured,” Perron said. “Now we are an 11 and 12 team with two 12Bs that came back.”
He feels the best is yet to come for the Bulldogs
“Next year, will be our strongest year,” Perron said. “Right now I have five Grade 9s playing and the Grade 9s who came in this year are extremely talented. It’s the best crop since I can’t remember when.”
THUNDER 41 GATORS 14
The Blessed Trinity Thunder (2-4) clinched the final semifinal spot in Niagara Catholic Athletic Association senior football action with a 41-14 victory over the Lakeshore Catholic Gators (0-6) Friday.
Unfortunately Blessed Trinity’s ticket to the dance comes with a date with Frankenstein. The Thunder will play the unbeaten Notre Dame Fighting Irish (6-0) Friday at 3 p.m. at Kiwanis Field. In the other Friday semifinal, St. Francis (3-3) is at Saint Michael (4-2) at 3 p.m.
Corbin Paterson, Jacob Kohut, Jimmy Hillyard, Owen Jones and Dillon Todd scored majors for the Thunder versus the Gators and Hunter Oakley booted the converts.
“It was the first game of the season in which we were able to put together good sustained drives without self-inflicted errors,” Thunder head coach Sean Jones said. “It was a good overall team effort with contributions from the guys we need to be producing in order for our team to be successful.”
OUA QUARTER-FINALS
Waterloo 44 Ottawa 21
A.N. Myer alumnus Tre Ford was front and centre as the Waterloo Warriors ended a three-game Ontario University Athletics losing streak by recording a 44-21 road victory over Ottawa in the quarter-finals.
Ford had 15 carries for 122 yards, including TD runs of 23 and seven yards, and was 16-24 passing for 225 yards and two TDs, including a three-yard scoring strike to former Myer teammate Rushom Dagelman.
Tyrell Ford also contributed on defence with three solo tackles and three assisted tackles, and on special teams where he had four punt returns for 49 yards.
Guelph 22 Carleton 17
Jordan Terrio (Saint Paul) had four catches for 30 yards to help Guelph edge Carleton 22-17 in OUA quarter-final action.
For Carleton: Josh Ferguson (Sir Winston Churchill) had 14 carries for 33 yards and four catches for 35 yards; and, Sandor Mod (Notre Dame) had three solo tackles in a losing cause.
NIAGARA GENERALS
With a week off to prepare for the playoffs, the Niagara Generals bantam football team took time off from its training to visit with Carter Dery, a nine-year-old Thorold boy who suffers from a genetic disorder.
The team made Carter an honorary member of the Niagara Generals, complete with team swag. They also presented him with gifts, including Halloween candy, tickets to the Argos game last Saturday and tickets to a playoff game in Hamilton. The thing that brought the biggest smiles to Carter was just playing and hanging out with the team in his backyard.
