Bantam Spears record first win
The Niagara Spears varsity football team fell to 0-2 in Ontario Summer Football League action following a 33-0 road loss at Cambridge last Saturday.
“We had a couple of defensive plays that were really good but offensively we struggled,” Niagara head coach Brian Duguay said. “We had a lot of injuries on the offensive line so we couldn’t really get a lot of stuff off but that is not an excuse. We should be a lot better than that.”
He feels the team still needs to jell.
Playing well for Niagara were: Raymond Gouthro-Selman with two solo tackles, one assisted tackle and two interceptions; Micheal Kessy with seven solo tackles, one assisted tackle and a sack; Noah Kugler with three solo tackles, three assisted tackles and a pick; and Justin Savoie who ran hard, recorded a couple long runs and finished with 10 carries for 57 yards.
The varsity Spears host the Etobicoke Eagles Saturday at 8 p.m. at Kiwanis Field and Duguay is confident his team can rebound.
“I am really happy the way that everyone is keeping their heads up. They are all buying into Zoom links and doing film reviews and all that so it has been really good.”
He expects the team’s health on the offensive line will improve gradually over the next month.
“We are testing our depth.”
BANTAM SPEARS 39 CAMBRIDGE 21
The Niagara Spears bantam football team evened its Ontario Summer Football League record at 1-1 with a 39-21 victory over Cambridge at at Jacob Hespler Field.
Niagara recorded 22 first downs and 418 yards of offence in the victory.
“The bantam team had its most productive offensive production to date scoring six TDs, five passing and one rushing,” head coach Austin Huh said. “Andew Hurrle was accurate throwing the ball and the offensive linemen did a great job protecting the QB and creating great seams for Josh Gauslin.”
Contributing to the win on offence were: Hurrle with four passing TDs and 171 passing yards; Owen Saunders with two receiving TDs; Hudson Grant with two receiving TDs and punt return TD; Cameron Coleman with a rushing TD; Lox Raducanu with a passing TD; Calum Moore with a receiving TD; and, Gauslin who rushed for 109 yards.
Leading the way on defence were: Will Taylor with two tackles for losses; Timmy Vinson with four tackles, including one for a loss; Spencer MacRae with five tackles and two forced fumbles; and, Raph Robinson and Hudson Grant with four tackles each.
“The defence had another fantastic outing only allowing two offensive TDs. Spencer MacRae had an outstanding game creating multiple turnovers on defence and impacting special teams play with his hustle and determination,” Huh said. “The Spears produced their first punt return TD of the season as Hudson Grant fielded the punt at centre field and returned it for a TD.”
The bantam Spears are on their bye week.
CAMBRIDGE 31 JV SPEARS 24
The Niagara Spears junior varsity football team fell to 0-2 on the season with a 31-24 road loss at Cambridge.
“Cambridge is a good team and it was a good test for them. We were leading at the half but we had a poor third quarter which lead to them taking over the lead,” Niagara head coach Brad Martin said. “We came back in the fourth quarter but we kind of ran out of time.”
Martin is happy with his team’s progress.
“The kids are continuing to develop and play better.”
Scoring for the Spears were: quarterback Austin MacRae with a 51-yard run; and MacRae with a 50-yard TD pass to Kieran McDonald and a 23-yard scoring strike to Liam Finley.
Niagara’s defence contributed to the scoring with a pair of safeties.
The JV Spears host the Etobicoke Eagles Saturday at 2 p.m. at Kiwanis Field.
