JV, bantam Spears hang tough
The Niagara Spears junior varsity (under-16) and bantam (under-14) football teams came close last Saturday in their Ontario Summer Football League home openers.
The junior varsity squad fell 20-9 to the London Junior Mustangs and the bantams were edged 28-25 by the Oakville Titans.
The junior varsity game was much close than the final scored indicated. London was leading 12-9 with a minute left in the game and on defence when they forced a fumble, scored a touchdown and added a two-point convert.
Last season, Niagara lost by 40 to London and two seasons ago they lost by 45 or 50.
“We had a ball dropped in the end zone, we missed another deep shot by an inch and we had opportunities to win,” Niagara head coach Brad Martin said. “Defensively we had a great game. In the first quarter, we had two coverage busts that cost us 12 points but we had two first-year corners out there in their first game. They had never played in a provincial league football game at the triple A level.”
Martin saw a lot of promising signs in the game.
“Historically what London did to us the last two years compared to what happened on Saturday, the kids played great,” he said. “We made the usual mistakes that happen in the first game of the season and everything that we did wrong is correctable and fixable. We are excited about the season.”
Josh Gauslin scored the major for Niagara on a two-yard run and Andrew Hurrle booted a 25-yard field goal to complete the scoring. On defence, the Spears recorded eight sacks, including three by Nathan Vander Meer.
Niagara plays Essex at the University of Windsor Saturday at 3 p.m.
OAKVILLE 28 U14 SPEARS 25
Spencer MacRae and Angelo Chukwu each scored a pair of majors as the bantam Spears fell to Oakville.
Noah Roller added an extra point and Niagara’s defence played well.
“There were a lot of positives in the game on all sides of the ball. We will continue to work on the solid foundation we have,” Spears head coach Troy Herbert said. “The players should be proud of how they played. We will continue to work hard at practice and prepare for Essex next.”
Niagara plays Essex at the University of Windsor Saturday at 1 p.m.
