Generals win two of three
The Niagara Generals bantam football team opened its Ontario Summer Football League season with a 23-20 loss to the Sarnia Sturgeons.
Niagara opened the scoring in the first quarter when Tyson Louis-Charles capped off a 60-yard drive with a rushing major.
The Sturgeons responded with a TD and two-point convert to take the lead at 8-6. Sarnia then added to its lead late in the second quarter by recovering an onside kick and completing a long passing play for a score.
Sarnia grabbed a 23-6 lead in the third quarter with another major before Niagara cut the lead to 23-13 on a TD by Luis Corredor-Reyes. A converted major by Cole Stayzer halfway through the final quarter concluded the scoring.
Niagara hosts the Branford Bisons on Sunday.
PEEWEE GENERALS
The Niagara Generals peewee football team pushed its OSFL record to 2-0 with a 52-40 victory over the Sarnia Sturgeons.
Sarnia trailed by 32 points in the game but never quit and made a game of it at the end.
“That’s how football is played. You have to play hard for all four quarters,” Niagara head coach Cliff Miller said. “I told the boys we will not underestimate any teams we play. We have to execute in all phases of the game. The U12 Generals are happy to have a bye week so the guys can rest up and can make adjustments. They will play hard against their next opponent, the Waterloo Junior Warriors, at home.”
Leading the way for the Generals on offence were Layken Crawford who rushed for 178 yards on 11 carries and scored two majors and Henry MacDonald who had 80 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns.
ATOM GENERALS
The Niagara Generals atom football team opened its season with a 30-12 victory over Guelph.
“For the season-opening game, I think I speak for all the coaching staff when I say we played an excellent game all around but we do have some minor things to clean up,” Niagara coach Andrew Lewis said. “We took too many penalties on the offensive side of the ball and in order for us to have continued success we will need to ensure those penalties do not continue. We’ll get back to work this week working on some of the minor issues we faced today and get prepared to play Waterloo Saturday.”
The Generals offence opened the scoring when Eli McLean led the offence down the field and Luc Vachon added a two-point convert. Niagara lead 14-0 at the half thanks to a TD reception by Jorge Corredor-Reyes..
Corredor-Reyes caught a 53-yard touchdown pass and a two-point convert gave Niagara a 22-6 lead heading into the final quarter.
Several huge runs by Matthias Aparicio set the stage for a rushing major by Aparicio which closed out the scoring.
“Today, our defence played very well, holding a very good Guelph offence to 12 points,” Lewis said. “I was very happy to see the progression of some of our new players coming up with big tackles and helping our defence hold off the Guelph attack.”
The defence was led by Xavier Sorgenfrei who had a huge day with 10 total tackles, including four for a loss, and one sack.
The offence played a strong game powered by Aparicio who had 189 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown.
“I was also impressed by Eli McLean’s rush/pass game. He scored a rushing touchdown and threw two passing touchdowns to Jorge Corredor-Reyes. These guys really came up big when it mattered,” he said.
