Bulldogs shock the Marauders
The A.N. Myer Marauders senior football team saw its incredible run of domination come to an end Thursday afternoon with a 35-31 loss to the visiting Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs in the Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Tier 1 football final.
Prior to the loss, the Marauders had been 48-0 in NRHSAA play since the NRHSAA and the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association split into two associations in 2017. Prior to that, the Tre Ford-led Marauders had won three straight Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations’ bowl games. Myer had not lost a league game since late in the 2014 season.
It was a loss Myer head coach Dave Buchanan saw coming.
“I told my team when we came out that we were in trouble. You could sense that they were thinking that it was going to be another easy win,” he said. “There are no excuses. They just got beat by a better team today, bottom line. They can make excuses that this guy was out or that guy was out but that (Churchill) was an inspired team. That’s a well-coached team and they just flat out beat us.”
Getting challenged in its own league is something Buchanan has been hoping for for a long time.
“There have been moments but usually in the championship game we show up. We didn’t show up today, they did and right from the beginning you could sense it,” he said. “It was what we needed. It was absolutely what we needed.”
Prior to the game, Buchanan went up to Churchill offensive coordinator Donnie Marshall and said. ‘You need to punch us in the mouth.’
“He asked why and I explained my team needed to be punched in the mouth today and that is exactly what they did. Their expectation was to win today and that team at Sir Winston played inspired football. They came with the idea they were going to beat us and I am glad our league presents that to us.”
For awhile, it looked like the punch in the mouth was heading in the direction of the Bulldogs.
Myer lead 17-14 at the half and build the lead to 31-14 by the end of the third quarter on a 27-yard TD pass from Noah Walters to Travis Boland and a 42-yard TD run by Walters.
A 66-yard TD pass from Liam Finley to Cory Witter cut the lead to 31-21 early in the fourth quarter. Churchill cut the lead to 31-22 on a kick that sailed through the end zone. Churchill’s Connor Shields recovered a fumble on the first play of Myer’s next possession and a Myer penalty gave the Bulldogs the ball on their opponent’s one-yard line. Finley scored on a QB keeper and the game had gone from laughter to a 31-29 nail-biter. Churchill grabbed the lead on a 23-yard field goal by Ethan Velasquez and then made it 35-31 on a 12-yard field goal by Velasquez.
The Bulldogs looked like they had the game in the bag when they turned the Marauders over on downs but Myer got one last chance with 1:06 left on the clock following a booming punt by Charlie Barnowski that pinned it back on its own 16-yard line.
The Marauders didn’t quit. Walters guided his team to midfield and then looked like he had given his team the lead with a 56-yard run. But a Myer penalty gave the Marauders the ball on Churchill’s 33-yard line with 18.3 seconds left. After two incompletions, the game ended on an unsuccessful scramble by Walters.
“That was one helluva game. We chose not to quit. We chose to go as hard as we could today and we chose to win and we did,” Churchill head coach Peter Perron said. “We knew we were going against one heckuva team and their lineage over these last couple of years has just been phenomenal. We had a shot today because we have been working very hard.”
Perron was thrilled with the win.
“I give credit to them because they have an excellent program but we have an excellent program too at our school and we worked hard to get where we are today. If you want a premier football program in the city, Sir Winston is the place to come.”
He saw the upset win coming.
“They whupped us good in the first game (42-7) at the beginning of the year and we saw what our mistakes were and what we had to correct. They were going to come at us hard but we had to come at them equally as hard. We played up to their level for a change opposed to us playing down.”
Leading the Bulldogs to victory was Finley. The Grade 11 quarterback threw seven interceptions in the regular season loss to Myer but it was a different story Thursday.
“Finley is just an amazing player. He was a rookie at the quarterback position but he responded to everything we wanted him to do. He has a good football IQ and he was willing to learn and improve,” Perron said.
Finley went into the game not thinking about his disastrous last game versus Myer.
“I just wanted to go out and perform at a high level. I don’t care about stats, to be honest, I just care if we get that win.”
He went into the game with nothing to lose and played comfortable and calm.
“We lost 42-7 to them and we had zero offensive touchdowns against the third-ranked team in Ontario. Nobody expected us to win this game and the only ones who believed in us was us and we got it done,” the 16-year-old said.
Finley never doubted his team could win.
“A hundred per cent because we love each other. This team always cares for each other and we would do anything to win this game and we did it. We knew if we didn’t turn the ball over we had a chance to make things happen. We executed and every play everybody went 100 per cent and played their hearts out.”
Finley was thrilled to be the team to beat Myer.
“They are an amazing team and that was probably the hardest game I have played in my life. Kudos to them but we are going to go out tonight, party and have a great night.”
They will celebrate but their work is not done.
“We’ve got SOSSA (Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association) in two weeks and we have to execute and prepare for that starting tomorrow.”
Thankfully for the Marauders, their season will also continue. The NRHSAA is hosting SOSSA in two weeks and Myer gets the second berth from the association. It will play the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association champion Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. at Myer.
“I told them that there is only one way you can go. You can feel sorry for yourself or move forward and we are going to move forward,” Buchanan said. “We will see what this team is made out of. There is going to be a lot of challenges and my address to the team wasn’t screaming and yelling. It was to be thankful for the fact that we got to play football today and then go and fix it. We have the talent and we have a good enough team to do it but we didn’t execute at the right time. Every position missed things today.”
STATS PACK
Bulldogs 35 Marauders 31
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Churchill quarterback Liam Finley with three rushing IDs and a passing major.
For the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs: Finley, TD runs of one, two and four yards; 66-yard TD pass from Liam Finley to Cory Witter; field goals of 12 and 23 yards by Ethan Velasquez; interception by Ty Kostyniuk; sack by Samuel Evangelista.
For the A.N. Myer Marauders: Marco Angelini, four-yard TD run; Noah Walters, TD runs of two and 42 yards; 27-yard TD pass from Walters to Travis Boland; sacks by Fran Dalla Valentina, Logan Radojkovic and Boland
Game stats: First downs: SWC 13 ANM 13. Net offensive yards: SWC 22, ANM 211. Turnovers: SWC 1, ANM 3. Penalties: SWC 4 for 35 yards, ANM, 12 for 85 yards.]Up Up next: The SOSSA semifinals will be played Thursday, Nov. 14 at Myer. Myer will play the Niagara Catholic champion at 7 p.m. and Churchill will play the Zone 1 champion at 3 p.m.
