Myer wins battle of unbeaten; Simcoe tops Collegiate

Thursday’s senior football showdown between the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs and the A.N. Myer Marauders lived up to its billing.

Both teams went into the game with perfect 3-0 records in Niagara Region High School Athletic Association play and it was the defending champion Marauders who emerged with a 38-27 victory and clinched home field advantage throughout for the playoffs for the umpteenth straight time.

But it was anything but a cakewalk. A 40-yard interception return for a TD by Moses Lougheed gave the Bulldogs a 21-3 lead midway through the second quarter. The pick saw the Marauders trailing by more than a touchdown in a NRHSAA game for the first time in nearly a decade.

Myer showed its championship mettle, scoring 35 straight points to build a 38-21 lead early in the fourth quarter but the Bulldogs refused to go quietly. Churchill cut the lead to 38-27 late in the game and then recovered an onside kick before turning the ball over on downs.

Whew!

Myer head coach Dave Buchanan had been hoping for his team to face some adversity and while the expected inclement weather didn’t deliver, the Bulldogs sure did.

“The kids were even saying that on the sideline. Even the quarterback after throwing a couple of picks, said this is what we needed,” Buchanan said. “We need to be punched in the mouth and we need to have adversity. Kudos to Churchill.

“We knew they were a good team. They have a lot of good pieces, they have good coaching and I am just proud of DSBN (District School Board of Niagara) football and the direction it’s going.”

Buchanan loved his team’s 35-point response.

“You never know with young kids if they are going to pout and say they are not good enough but at the end of the day they believed in themselves and all their hard work,” he said. “I think that is what paid off.”

Buchanan wasn’t happy that his team fell behind by 18 points but is excited to see how Myer’s opponents are continuing to narrow the gap.

“The league is better and we are on the upside,” he said. “It’s not like we are a bad team and not training. Other teams are bringing it to us.”

That competition is crucial for Myer or any team making it out of the NRHSAA and beyond.

“I hear it out in public and I hear it all around that Myer doesn’t have to play anybody and when it faces the Catholic board, we are going to struggle,” Buchanan said. “That is not the case any more and whoever comes out of the league — and it’s not necessarily going to be us — is going to be prepared and hardened up to play the Catholic finalist.”

Churchill head coach Peter Perron didn’t like the outcome but was pleased with a lot of the things his team displayed.

“We started off hot and I guess that sort of got us a little too overconfident and we started going through the motions,” he said. “When that happens, they have a good team as well. They started executing and maintained their intensity and that is something we have to work on.”

Perron felt Myer’s mantra of winning the battle of repetition in the off-season was evident.

“We’ll learn, we have to get better next week and we have a long way to go.”

What the Bulldogs did learn is that they can play with the Marauders.

“The confidence is there, the ability is there and we just have to correct our mental mistakes,” Perron said.

Myer slotback Quin Douglas, who caught a TD pass in the game and ran for another, feels the team has heeded Buchanan’s request to not think about the successful history of the program but rather focus on what the current team can do.

“Today we actually faced a team that punched us in the mouth at the beginning of the game,” the 18-year-old said. “It definitely set in that you can’t win every game just because the school has won in the past. You have to earn it.”

Douglas knows what his team has to do moving forward.

“We have to keep our eyes on the prize and just take it one game at a time.”

Buchanan will be relying on the 6-foot-1, 185 pounder to be a mainstay all season long.

“He’s an athletic, smart, great practice guy, he shows up for everything and is good academically as well. There’s not enough good things to say about him.”

Douglas plays mostly at slotback for the Marauders but will also fill in on occasion at linebacker.

“We try not to do that too much but he could play anywhere. He could play O line if he needed to.”

Buchanan feels Douglas stands out because of his desire to be a football player.

“He started in junior and then all of a sudden he started to develop. He got faster and stronger and he’s caught more footballs than anybody in the region. He has practised a lot. That is work ethic.”

That is business as usual for Douglas.

“Over these past two years of not playing football, I’ve gone to that field it seems like a million times for an hour and a half, four or five times a week with my buddies.”

He is motivated by two factors.

“It is to help the team win and be as good as I possibly can,” he said. “My talent and skills have developed but it’s also leading these guys and leading by example, especially at Myer where there is such a winning culture. You need to set the standard.”

STATS PACK

Marauders 38 Bulldogs 27

BPSN Player of the Game: Myer’s Quin Douglas with a touchdown run and a touchdown reception.

For the A.N. Myer Marauders: 68-yard TD pass from Drake Somerville to Tyler Goforth; 30-yard TD pass Somerville to Douglas; seven-yard TD pass Somerville to Josh Hicks; 25-yard TD run by Douglas; three-yard TD run by Somerville; 37-yard field goal by Hicks; interception by Arden Martinez.

For the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs: 42-yard TD pass Ryan Cormier to Josh Morley; 52-yard TD run by De’Ondre Forde; 40-yard interception return for TD by Moses Lougheed; 21-yard TD pass from Cormier to Brady Pupek; 50-yard interception return by Quinn Johnson; on-side kick recovery by Justin Savoie.

Game stats: Net offence: ANM 401, SWC 295. First downs: ANM 13, SWC 13. Turnovers: ANM 3, SWC 3. Penalties: ANM 5 for 35 yards, SWC 3 for 5 yards.

Redcoats 47 Saints 14

Keyontae Hart had a 17-yard TD run and an interception to power the Governor Simcoe Redcoats (2-2) to a 47-14 victory over the St. Catharines Collegiate Saints (0-4) Wednesday in NRHSAA senior play.

Also contributing to the win were: touchdown runs by Ryan Segato (18 yards), Danny Lewis (four yards), Jacob Reynan (five yards) and Kambri Watson (five yards); a TD catch by Marcus Maynard (15 yards); and, an interceptions by Noah Budgell.

For Collegiate: Grade 9s Clayton Mishibiniima and Ben Carey were first-time starters at running back with Mishibiniima rushing for 47 yards on seven carries and Carey having nine rushes for 87 yards with two majors and a two-point convert.

“We executed well at times but still made errors due to a lack of focus,” Collegiate coach Nathan Greene said. “A committment to fundamentals and positional responsibilities is needed. Each week we cut down on these errors and that is all we can hope for with our young and improving roster.”

The Redcoats host Eden next Thursday at 3 p.m.