Bulldogs stun Gryphons in double OT; Marauders also win
Thirty years from now when members of the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs football team have far less hair and far more inches around their waistlines, they will remember a cold winter night in November when they recorded a 30-29 double overtime victory over the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons to advance to the Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Tier 1 championship game.
There were plenty of huge plays that led up to Corbin Atkinson’s game-winning rouge from 10 yards out, but no one had a bigger impact on the game than Grade 11 Churchill defensive back Aidan Cook. The 16-year-old had the game of his young life with two interceptions, a strip and fumble recovery, and a two-point convert on a catch.
“He is the hardest working kid and he doesn’t miss a practice,” Churchill head coach Peter Perron said. “You look at him and you think ‘Holy cow, is that a football player?’ But the thing is, his heart and football IQ is up there.”
Cook was simply listening to the advice of his dad, Adam, Friday night.
“He told me that I needed to step up and that he knows I have it in me to play a hard game,” he said. “He knows what he is talking about.”
Cook’s on-the-field performance was the result of hard work. After every Bulldog practice, Cook, Andrew Meffe, Moses Lougheed and Josh Morley stay behind and do their own conditioning.
“It varies from running, pushups and everything to make sure we get that extra boost,” he said. “We just want to be as good as we can be and reach our full potential.
At 5-foot-8 and weighing 135 pounds, Cook knows he’s not the prototypical football player.
“A lot of people are surprised when I tell them that I play football, especially when I tell them that I play defence because I’m smaller, but I like to believe that I know what I am doing.”
After losing twice to Greater Fort Erie in the regular season, Perron was ecstatic to see his team know what it needed to do when it mattered the most.
“It feels good because we are back to the party (championship game) again,” he said. “We know this is a hard league and there are no easy games. That was a heckuva team and we worked really, really hard to go against these guys and the third time is the charm.”
Perron tipped his proverbial hat to the Gryphons.
“They played a great game but our guys came to play today and we came out with a little bit of attitude,” he said. “They usually have the attitude and we had it today.“
Perron knows his team will have a hard time knocking off the A.N. Myer Marauders in the championship game.
“We have to take on the champions of our tier and they are not easy to beat,” he said. “But guess what? We are going to give it a shot.”
All season GFESS head coach Dave Sauer had warned his team about mental mistakes and undisciplined play and the Gryphons shot themselves in the foot Friday. Greater Fort Erie turned the ball over eight times in the loss and had 15 penalties for 144 yards.
“We preached to them all year that you can’t make mistakes and you can’t give good teams opportunities, and they did,” he said. “We made tons of errors and I thought we could have put the game away a couple of times.
“But give it to them. They made plays when they had to and they deserve it.”
The Gryphons has many chances and failed to capitalize.
“We were down inside the five and we fumbled the ball,” Sauer said. “We had opportunities and we gave it right back to them.”
STATS PACK
Bulldogs 30 Gryphons 29 (2OT)
Mick and Angelo’s/Johnny Rocco’s/Cracker Jacks Player of the Game: Churchill’s Aidan Cook with two interceptions, a strip and fumble recovery and a two-point convert on a catch.
For the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs: Ryan Cormier, 55-yard TD run and TD on one-yard QB keeper; Noah Dommasch, 42-yard TD reception from Cormier and 77-yard TD run; Cook, two interceptions, a strip and fumble recovery and a two-point convert on a catch; two-point convert by Josh Morley; Corbin Atkinson, rouge; Ryan Daniel, fumble recovery; and interception in end zone by Deondre Pinder.
For the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons: Mason Arbic, 18-yard TD reception from Campbell Laroche, 61-yard TD run and 12-yard TD run; 14-yard TD pass Laroche to Rielly Borelli; Nick Snache with two sacks and two fumble recoveries; two-point convert on run and interception by Braeden Eder; and, Kadan Hannigan and Kai Gerritsen with sacks.
Game stats: First downs: SWC 14, GFESS 18. Net offence: SWC 358, GFESS 426. Turnovers: SWC 5, GFESS 8. Penalties: SWC 8 for 50 yards, GFESS 15 for 144 yards.
Up next: Churchill plays A.N. Myer in the NRHSAA Tier 1 final next week.
MARAUDERS 53 SPARTANS 0
The undefeated A.N. Myer Marauders rolled into the NRHSAA championship game with a convincing 53-0 victory Friday night over the visiting Westlane Spartans.
Leading the way for the Marauders were: quarterback Will Jackman with a rushing major and TD passes to Brody O’Toole, Ethan Carmichael, Winfield Organ and Trent Hunter; Sandro Pierini with a fumble recovery for a major; O’Toole with a pick six; Organ with a rouge; and, Chris Bechkos with six converts and a field goal.
