Ravens sweep Spears
The Niagara Spears’ three travel football teams were in tough last weekend at the University of Windsor.
Playing the powerful Essex Ravens, the Varsity (under-18) Spears lost 35-5, the Junior Varsity (under-16) Spears were defeated 44-16 and the Bantam (under-14) squad fell 38-18.
The Varsity Spears knew they were in tough against a program that qualified for the championship game last season.
“We needed to be disciplined and play mistake-free,” Spears head coach Brian Duguay said.
That didn’t happen early as the Spears gave up a touchdown on an interception and had a kick-off return fumble that resulted in another touchdown. Essex build its lead to 21-2 by halftime.
“We needed to limit our mistakes which resulted in 14 points for them and move the ball,” he said.
Costly penalties in the second half saw Niagara give up two more majors while the Spears scored on a 27-yard field goal by Ethan Hampshire.
“We gave up 21 points on mistakes,” Duguay said. “You can’t win when you do this. We are too good of a team to be making these mistakes and taking these penalties. We will regroup at practice and correct these habits. Our defence played well, but you need to win two out of the three categories to get the win.”
Top performers for Niagara were: Nick Jubenville with two solo tackles, two assisted tackles and a solo sack; Cole Stewart with two solo tackles and two assisted tackles; Carter Small with a solo tackle and three assisted tackles; Justin Savoie with seven rushes for 30 yards; and, Matt Murray who was 6-16 passing for 65 yards and had four carries for 22 yards.
The Spears host the Cornwall Wildcats Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Notre Dame.
RAVENS 44 JV SPEARS 16
A slow start last Saturday at the University of Windsor resulted in a 44-16 loss by the Niagara Spears under-16 football team to the Essex Ravens.
“We didn’t have a very strong performance. Essex was at home and when you play provincial football you have to be ready to play,” Spears head coach Brad Martin said. “We had a four-hour bus ride, we started out slow and Essex took advantage of that.”
There were some bright spots for the Spears.
“We had a couple of young players who stood out and are improving,” he said.
Owen Saunders caught a 61-yard scoring pass and a two-point convert pass from Jacob Ianizzi and Ben VanMaanen and Liam Finley had strong games. Ianizzi added the other touchdown on a two-yard run.
“It’s a learning experience and we will take it for what it is and move forward,” Martin said. “You have to be ready to play, especially at the provincial level.”
Niagara hosts the Kingston Grenadiers Saturday at 4 p.m. at Notre Dame.
RAVENS 38 BANTAM SPEARS 18
Trailing 19-12 at the half, the Niagara Spears bantam football team dropped a 38-18 decision to the Essex Ravens Saturday at the University of Windsor.
“We were driving late in the first half but ran out of time. We had a fumble on the opening kick off of the second half which lead to an Essex score and on the next series we lost our starting quarterback to injury,” Spears head coach Troy Herbert said. “The third quarter got away from us but the players kept working hard and we scored another touchdown in the fourth quarter. Again there was a lot of positives from the game against a very strong opponent in Essex.”
Spencer McRae scored a pair of majors for Niagara and Asar McIntyre-Christie also scored before he left the game with an injury. The defence was led by McRae, Tamas Hunter and Tristan Herbert.
“I was very happy with how our team competed with Essex. If we take away some costly mistakes, we were right there with a very good opponent. We will continue to build on the positives this week at practice and clean up the mistakes as we get ready to face London next week at Notre Dame,” Troy Herbert said. “We are hoping to have a couple of our linemen back next week as well as our starting quarterback and running back.”
The Spears game versus London will be played Saturday at 1 p.m. at Notre Dame.
