Spears heading into playoffs
The Niagara Spears varsity football team will open the playoffs at Kiwanis Saturday at 8 p.m. versus the Oshawa Hawkeyes.
“We have been watching film on them and they are going to be a good team. Everyone in this league is good,” Spears head coach Brian Duguay said. “They are big, they are athletic so we are going to need some time to dictate our game plan against them.”
He likes what he is seeing from his team in the practices leading up to the playoffs.
“We are doing really well. We are getting some players back which is going to help us on the offensive line but we lost another player to surgery from our last game.”
JUNIOR VARSITY SPEARS.
The Niagara Spears junior varsity will also host the Oshawa Hawkeyes in the first round of the playoffs.
The game will be played Friday at 8 p.m. at Kiwanis Field.
“They are the eighth seed from Tier 1 in the East and its Division 1 so we are not taking them lightly,” Niagara head coach Brad Martin said. “We like our chances and I think we can do well on Friday and have a good game.”
The Spears will go into the playoffs mostly healthy.
“We have had a couple of injuries during the season which is normal for any season but we are pretty healthy, knock on wood,” he said. “We might be missing Michael Bielich, he is our slot, and we have two boys away on vacation. Other than that it is just the regular old bumps and bruises of a season.”
JUNIOR MUSTANGS 42 BANTAM SPEARS 0
The Niagara Spears bantam football team concluded its regular season at home last weekend with a 42-0 loss to the London Junior Mustangs.
“Despite a tremendous effort from the undermanned bantam Spears team, we could not slow down the very effective and physical London squad,” Spears head coach Austin Huh said. “The bantams will be preparing for their first-round playoff match next week.”
Niagara rushed for 55 yards and passed for 130 yards against London. Offensive highlights were: Calum Moore with a 51-yard reception; Owen Saunders with 22 yards on the ground; and, Josh Gauslin with 47 yards rushing.
On defence, Raph Robinson had two solo tackles, one tackle for a loss and a sack.
“Although the bantam Spears lost the contest 42-0, the score was not indicative of the excellent play by the team,” Huh said. “The Spears offence started the contest with an explosive double pass from QB Andrew Hurrle to Josh Gauslin to Calum Moore for a 50-yard pass completion. Josh Gauslin rushed effectively as the wildcat QB. Josh also produced the play of the game where he stripped the ball from the defender after an offensive interception to give the ball back to the offence. Raph Robinson and Will Taylor anchored the defence.”
