NRHSAA football playoffs set: Spartans top Collegiate
The Westlane Spartans senior football team (1-3) brought the curtain down on the Niagara Region High School Athletic Association regular season Monday afternoon with a 35-6 victory over the St. Catharines Collegiate Saints (0-4) in Tier 2 play.
“We caught some breaks today and took advantage of our opportunities. Our defence played aggressive the entire game,” Westlane coach Dean Mazzone said. “They’re a well-coached team, showing no quit the entire game.”
Leading the way for the Spartans were: Drake Antic with a rushing major and 31 yards rushing; Aldin Prsic with a 10-yard TD catch; Logan Caruthers with a TD catch and 130 receiving yards; Pruthvi Patel with a two-yard TD run and 273 yards passing; and, Jacob Ranger with a rushing major and 102 yards gained on the ground.
For St. Catharines Collegiate: Cole Adshead was 2-7 passing for 12 yards and six rushes for 87 yards; Colton Joyce had six rushes for 12 yards and a TD; Connor Hammond had eight carries for 22 yards ;Dalton Heus had seven carries for 42 yards; Teagyn Wienst had three sacks, five tackles and an interception; Patrick Burse had six tackles, including two for losses; Kadmiel Patrong had an interception; and, Ombi Kinga had a sack.
“We were agonizingly careless with the ball today. I think we fumbled in every conceivable fashion by at least eight different players,” Collegiate coach Nathan Greene said. “We fumbled on long snap punting, we fumbled on quarterback/running back exchanges, we fumbled by snapping over the quarterback’s head, we fumbled after a pass completion, we fumbled on a punt return, we fumbled on a kick return and I am sure there are fumbles I forgot about. Clearly our nonchalant attitude towards ball security caught up with us today.”
Greene described it as a hard lesson to learn but ball carriers must always secure the ball.
“The upside is that the defence was outstanding. We just gave them too many short fields due to the huge number of turnovers,” he said. “We know what we have to fix and how to fix it. We will get to work and Friday will be another game. The playoff games are the only ones that matter.”
Westlane and Collegiate will meet again in the Tier 3 semifinal Friday at 3 p.m. at Westlane. The winner advances to meet the Stamford Hornets in the Tier 3 championship game Nov.4.
In Tier 1 semifinal action Thursday at 7 p.m., the defending champion A.N. Myer Marauders will host the West Niagara Wolfpack and the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs will go on the road to play the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons.
In Tier 2 semifinal action, the Governor Simcoe Redcoats host the Centennial Cougars, the fifth-place finisher in the Tier 1 regular season, Thursday at 5:30 p.m. and the unbeaten Thorold Golden Eagles take on the Eden Flyers, the sixth-place finishers in the Tier 1 regular season, Friday at 7 p.m. in Thorold.
Tier 1 final standings: A.N. Myer 5-0; Greater Fort Erie 4-1, Sir Winston Churchill 3-2; West Niagara 2-3; Centennial 1-4; Eden 0-5.
Tier 2 final standings: Thorold 4-0; Governor Simcoe 3-1; Stamford 2-2; Westlane 1-3; St. Catharines Collegiate 0-4.
