Lisi helps Spears keep playoff hopes alive

Josh Lisi’s first season of scholarship football with the University of Toronto Blues didn’t got as planned.

The 19-year-old Niagara Falls native didn’t dress for a single game of Ontario University Athletics action and tore his quad muscle in the second week of the season. That injury left him unable to play until the final week of the season.

“It was a lot of physiotherapy and a lot of work on the field by myself to slowly get my running motion back,” the A.N. Myer graduate said.

It was also a lot of work mentally to stay positive.

“I just stuck around football every day knowing that I would get my turn next,” he said. “I just kept focusing on the future.”

That future, at least for the summer, was to play for the Niagara Varsity Spears in the Ontario Provincial Football League.

“He’s a great player,” said, Spears head coach Brian Duguay said, after Risi’s two TD receptions helped the Spears to a 25-21 victory over the visiting London Junior Mustangs Saturday night.“He was at the U of T and wanted to come back and get in more games and he is doing really well for us.”

Risi may only be 5-foot-6 and 155 pounds, but he packs a lot of punch.

“It’s the heart and he wants to play all the time,” Duguay said. “He has the ability now with his university ball (background) because he knows what it takes and he brings that to practice.”

The Spears don’t usually have university players on their roster, but Risi wanted to play and the Toronto coaching staff were on board as well.

“I told them that I didn’t get to play much last year and I wanted to get better,” Risi said. “I want to get a spot on my team in Toronto next year.

“I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do.”

The receiver is happy with how his season is going.

“I have been improving slowly every game and now that I am a full-time receiver, I am getting a lot of chances to work on my routes and stuff like that,” he said. “It’s helping me become an overall better receiver.”

Risi had a huge comfort level with Spears quarterback Ryan James. The two played together at Myer. James has probably thrown thousands of passes to Risi in practice during the past few years.

“It’s probably more than that,” Risi said, with a smile.

The connection between the two is also off the field.

“Every day, him and I hang out and we’re like brothers,” he said. “There is a bond between us.”

Risi heads to Toronto’s training camp Aug. 14.

“My goal is to get a spot on the roster and a jersey number.”

Niagara came into the London game needing to win its final two games to have a shot at making the playoffs. After falling behind 21-7 in the second quarter, Niagara managed to tie the game 21-21 heading into the final quarter. The Spears didn’t manage any TDs in the final quarter, but scored enough points to improve their record to 4-3.

“It was a huge win,” Duguay said. “We had a great week of practice, but this team is very young and we need to understand that we have to come out and play every game.

“We lower ourselves to the way our opponents play and that’s not saying anything bad about our opponents we lost to because they are good teams.”

Risi agrees with that assessment.

“We never truly play our game or focus on ourselves,” he said. “We are always focusing on the guys in front of us and that’s our biggest challenge.

“Tonight (Saturday), we overcame that.”

The story for Niagara in the second half was the play of its defence.The Spears gave up 193 yards total offence and six first downs in the first half compared to three first downs and 21 yards of offence in the second half.

“We came out slow and they were able to score fast on us, but we battled back,” Duguay said. “Our kids have a lot of heart.”

STATS PACK

Spears 25 Junior Mustangs 21

BPSN Star of the Game: Niagara’s Josh Lisi with seven catches for 116 yards and two TD receptions, and a strong game at kick return.

For the Niagara Spears: Lisi, 40- and seven-yard TD receptions from Ryan James, John Serrano, five-yard TD catch from James; James, 18-for-26 passing for 250 yards; Chase Bowden, 11 carries for 66 yards; Cole Mackinnon, 22-yard field goal and single point on missed field goal; Zack Melnyk, three solo tackles, seven assisted tackles and two sacks; Zack Ayotte, two solo tackles, two assisted tackles and a sack; Daniel Clarke, interception and two solo tackles; Curtis Neilson, interception; and, Colin Howe, one solo tackle and two assisted tackles.

For the London Junior Mustangs: Mohsen Jamal, 20- and 75-yard TD receptions from Taylor Elgersma; Max Nixon, 38-yard TD run on fake punt; John Pantazopoulos, interception.

Game stats: First downs: Niagara 19, London 9. Net offence: Niagara 316, London 214.Turnovers: Niagara 1, London 2. Scoring by quarters: Niagara 7-7-7-4=25, London.

Up next: Niagara hosts Hamilton Saturday, July 6 at 8 p.m. at Kiwanis Field.