Varsity Spears earn first win
The Niagara Spears varsity football team’s defence shut down the Cornwall Wildcats long enough for its offence to get rolling and the result was a 17-9 victory Saturday night at Notre Dame.
Cornwall’s only first down in the first half was on a penalty and Niagara held the Wildcats to 32 net yards in the first half. Meanwhile Niagara’s offence sat at minus 16 yards well into the second quarter thanks to a number of dropped balls before Matt Murray connected on a pair of TD passes to give his team a lead they would not relinquish.
Leading the way for Niagara’s defence was linebacker Nick Jubenville.
“Nick Jubenville is a great player. He transitioned from quarterback and he is a smart player and that skill at quarterback has translated to linebacker,” Spears defensive coordinator Michael Domanico said. “He never played it before coming over this year and since Day 1 he has been flying all over the place and making every play. He is definitely a defensive player and he’s not afraid to come down hill and mix it up with the bigger guys. For a guy who has never played defence, he is way ahead of other people.”
The 17-year-old Dunnville resident played quarterback at Lakeshore Catholic but decided he would try out for linebacker when he arrived at the Spears’s training camp.
“I thought my size would be a better fit for linebacker and I know that the quarterbacks on this team are really good and I didn’t think I could really compete with them,” the 6-foot-2, 210-pounder said. “I talked to the coaches and I talked to my friends who play football and they told me I would be great at linebacker and the team could use some linebacker depth. I said. ‘Why not? I’ve got the athleticism to do it and linebacker looks like a lot of fun’ so I decided to give it a try.”
His quarterbacking background comes in handy on defence.
“Definitely the athleticism. I was always a run-first quarterback and I think that helps me. I can play a SAM linebacker and get out and play one-on-one with the receivers but I am also big enough that I can play the run game and fill the gaps.”
It took Jubenville a few weeks to get in the groove at the new position.
“I started off slow but it was easier than I thought it would be and it has just gotten better every week.”
He wishes he would have started playing defence and travel football sooner.
“This is my first year of summer ball after I played high school for three years. It is just great and I am loving it.”
He is looking forward to taking the next step as a football player.
“I was supposed to go to work next year to be a machinist but I am considering 12B now because the coaches are telling me I have potential and I could go somewhere. That is where I am at now.”
He is receiving interest from Ontario football programs and was speaking to an OUA coach after Saturday’s game
“This is the first time I talked to a university football coach but I used to play baseball for the Niagara Falls Falcons and I had a couple of talks there too,” Jubenville said. “It was a tough decision to quit baseball last year but it is working out.”
Domanico has watched his defence get better every week.
“We started off a little slow and in training camp you could see that but the guys bought in,” he said. “We had a lot of numbers at the beginning but we lost some players and some of the younger guys have stepped up into big roles. Those players are showing it on the field because they bought into practice and worked on the fundamentals every day. They fly around and execute at a high level.”
Jubenville there’s no secret to the defence’s success.
“We have been working really hard, day in and day out sweating and it has really been showing. We have a young defence that is full of dogs,” Jubenville said. “We are all stepping up and playing really well.”
Niagara improved to 1-2 in Ontario Summer Football League action with the win.
“It was a very big win,” head coach Brian Duguay said. “The defence has been great all year and we have been allowing very low scores for most of the game even if they are high at the end. Halfway through the fourth against London it was 12-0 for them. We try to make things happen and we don’t capitalize.”
That was evident again Saturday.
“Today we missed three touchdown passes before we connected,” Duguay said. “Hopefully we are starting to jell and we are starting to get guys back. Angel Diaz was at the Ontario flag football championships and that was a big addition to our offence this week.”
Duguay likes how his team keeps battling.
“I am very proud of the way these guys never stop and they keep on fighting and they keep on digging. You saw the determination in them today.”
SPEARS 17 WILDCATS 9
BPSN Player of the Game: Spears quarterback Matt Murray who was 13-25 passing for 252 yards with two TD passes.
For the Niagara Spears: Ethan Calendar, five catches for 100 yards including one-yard TD pass from Murray; Angel Diaz, four catches for 131 yards including 44-yard TD pass from Murray to Angel Diaz; Justin Savoie, 18 carries for 73 yards; sack in end zone for safety by Edmund Palumbo; single point and two converts by Ethan Hampshire; Ryan Broom, five solo tackles; Devon Dulmage, four solo tackles; Nick Jubenville, three solo tackles and two tackles for losses
For the Cornwall Wildcats: two-point safety by defence; 28- and 33-yard field goals and single point by Zachary Aubin.
Game stats: Net offence: Niagara 326, Cornwall 129. First downs: Niagara 13, Cornwall 7. Turnovers: Niagara 4, Cornwall 4. Penalties: Niagara 5 for 50 yards, Cornwall 8 for 54 yards.
Up next: The Spears host the Hamilton Junior Ti-Cats next Saturday at 8 p.m. at Kiwanis Field.
