Bantam Generals continue to roll
After giving up a touchdown on the opening drive of the game, the Niagara Generals bantam (under-14) football team went into shutdown mode on the way to a 34-14 victory over Waterloo in Ontario Summer Football League action.
“Strong play by the D line and key sacks by Aiden Van Mil along with back field pressure by Rassaam Hooshmand nullified a strong Waterloo offence,” Generals head coach Bruce Macrae said. “A fourth-quarter fumble recovery by Blake Mckinnon sealed the deal. Our offence showed grit and determination steadily marching the ball down the field.”
Macrae loves what his team is showing on the field so far.
“Every week I see improvement in these kids. We are building our bench in a variety of ways but ultimately we have a wide assortment of kids that are extremely versatile and can play multiple spots,” he said.
Leading the offence for the Generals were: Calum Smith who scored two majors and a two-point conversion; Marco Angelini who punched in a major; Cameron Macrae who opened the outside for a touchdown while Gavin Vasquez broke off six tackles to beast his way across the goal line; and, Mateo Aliya who added two extra point kicks.
PEEWEE GENERALS
The Niagara Generals peewee (under-12) football team dropped a 46-14 decision to the London Junior Mustangs.
“There were a lot of positives this week but with a short roster and injuries in key positions, we were unable to go this distance,” Generals head coach Kent Wakem said.
“We had some roster issues early in the game that cost us before we could make adequate changes and we were unable to recover.”
London had a 16-6 lead going into halftime and was able to capitalize on two-point converts on five of their touchdowns.
“We had several mental errors in just about every aspect of our game this week. This is a great opportunity for our players to learn and gives us a real view into what we need to work on in the weeks leading up to playoffs,” Wakem said. “We look forward to a potential rematch with London.”
Scoring majors for the Generals were Lox Raducanu and Luis Corredor-Reyes. Mark Hazzouri added a two-point convert.
The peewee Generals will face the Chatham Kent Cougars this Sunday for a home game at GFESS.
ATOM GENERALS
The Niagara Generals atom (under-10) football team played tough against the London Junior Mustangs but came up on the wrong end of a 53-8 decision.
“Today’s game was hard fought by our guys against the league’s best team. I like that our guys were able to showcase some of the improvements we have been working on,” Niagara head coach Andrew Lewis said. “Given London has only given up 14 points all season, I was impressed by our offensive abilities to drive the ball down field and score. We had a lot of drives that could have ended in points but unfortunately we took a few penalties which ended those drives.”
Lewis felt his defence played better than the final score indicated.
“We had a lot of good stops Our defence was led by some key blitzes off the edge by Jake Brewster and Karson Stevens who were able to sack the QB a few times throughout the game,” he said. “At the end of the game, the Mustangs coaching staff made it a point to come and speak with me. They wanted to note that our defence was the best they had seen all year. As a coach I could not have been prouder to hear that compliment. I know our guys have worked really hard to continue to improve and it’s starting to show.”
Niagara will host London’s second team this week.
