The powerhouse CFC TOP 50 Frontenac Falcons’ are off to a promising start, following a convincing victory in week two of KASSAA football action. Coming off of an undefeated season and a trip to the Northern Capital Bowl at the Rogers Centre, the Falcons earned their 2nd win of the season over the Bayridge Bengals on Thursday afternoon.
The Falcons came out flying in the first-half as Defensive Back #16 Connor O’Neil picked off Bengals Quarterback #7 Jordan Fehr early, putting the Falcons in scoring position. One of three Falcons runningbacks who saw the ball on the day, #15 Braeden Stevenhaagen would finish off the drive for the first score of the day, capped off by Kicker Declan McCann to put the Falcons up by 7.
The Falcons Defense kept the ball rolling as Linebacker #48 Tyler Priest would force and recover a fumble on the very next drive, giving Stevenhaagen the chance to cross the plain for yet another quick score.
The Falcons then took the ball to the air. Quarterback #10 Rob McGee captained a long drive, making several completions to move the chains before finding #76 Jacob Veenstra with room to run. Veenstra caught a short pass at the 30 and continued down the sideline dodging defenders to take it to the house for a 21-0 Falcons lead.
The Falcons would add another forced fumble, interception, two Field Goals, and two singles before the game was through, going on to blank the Bengals 29-0.
After the game, Bengals head coach Mike McCourt said his team knew they were in for a tough game as the Falcons carry a high reputation. The team has won 8 of the last 10 KASSAA championships and finished the 2012 season without a loss.
“They gave our o-line some trouble. There were a lot of stunts and blitzes that our guys weren’t picking up that really hampered our quarterbacks timing and ability to get rid of the ball.”
Despite the disappointing loss, McCourt says he was happy with how his team played, pointing out sustained drives late in the 4th quarter as a step in the right direction. With an 0-2 start to the season and several players already sidelined on both sides of the ball, he believes injuries will play a large role in the team’s success going forward..
“It’s a (AA) school problem. When you’ve got 30 guys and you come in with 3 or 4 guys that are injured, then it makes a big difference. So if we could stay healthy, we’ve got the athletes to make some noise.”
Falcons head coach Mike Doyle said despite his team completing the shutout, there is still some cleaning up to do. Penalties after the play and close calls in the offensive backfield will be worked on during the team’s upcoming bye week.
“We’ve got about 8 practices before our next game so that gives you a lot of opportunity to polish things. We’ll have to take a look at how things went today and see what we want to add in. By the time that bye week’s over, we should be pretty much who we’re going to be.”
Friday afternoon saw 4 teams in action as the La Salle Black Knights hosted the Regiopolis-Notre Dame Panthers in the early game.
Pinned in their own 20 off of the kickoff, the Panthers fumbled a punt attempt, resulting in a quick 6 for the Knights as running back #24 Cody Fellows punched it in from the goal line. Kicker #44 Isaac Harrington would tack on the extra point. Fellows would continue to roll with the ball with a 25-yard run on the Knights’ next drive, setting them up for a field goal attempt which would sail wide left and result in a rouge. Both teams would exchange field goals before the end of the half.
Black Knight’s Defensive back #6 Nick Ackley ended a string of several scoreless drives in the 2nd half with a 45-yard Pick 6 of Panthers’ Quarterback #31 Courtney Norris. Norris attempted a pass to the sideline which Ackley pounced on, extending the Knights lead to 15.
A relentless Panthers backfield continued on despite the uphill battle and managed to march down the field before running back #30 Sean Mambourquette found the end zone. Norris would complete the two-point conversion to Wide Receiver #80 Chris Niles to slim the margin to 7.
A quick 2-down and out from the Knights gave the Panthers a fighting chance but it wasn’t their night as La Salle walked away with the victory, final score 18 to 11.
Black Knights head coach Reuben Brunet says conditioning became a factor in the 2nd half as the Knight’s defence had some troubles controlling Panthers’ ball carriers. The Knights offence also experienced issues of their own. Top running back #27 Reed Kekewich was removed from the game in the 3rd quarter due to a second unnecessary roughness penalty .
“That killed us,” Brunet said. “They didn’t have to respect the outside stuff because we didn’t have a big gunner back there. It really dictated the rest of the game. because we were up 18 to 3 at that point and we just couldn’t move the ball on offence.”
Despite starting the game from behind, Panthers’ head coach Ryan Poser was impressed with how his team handled the early mistake and their efforts to claw back throughout the 2nd half.
With two straight losses to start the season, Poser stressed the importance of having guys on the sideline ready to go as a key factor for the team going forward. He feels that if their running game can continue to pound the ball, their offence will surely find it’s rhythm.
In the late game, the Holy Cross Crusaders picked up their first win moving them to 1-1 with a 16-0 shutout over the Ernestown Eagles, suffering their first loss with only 18 players dressed.
Eagles head coach Lou Bilkovski says they’re playing with the cards that their dealt and playing with heart.
“18 players working together…It’s only 12 on 12 on the field. Just keep working at it. No excuses that ‘Hey, were only 18 players.’ We plan to challenge and let the chips fall where they may.”
Touchdowns for the Crusaders came from two different quarterbacks. #30 Jeremy Pendergast completed the first scoring completion to #24 Devon Christian. The second pass came from #5 Rob Halligan to #83 Jag Masters.
Week 3 of KASSAA football will see (0-2) Regiopolis-Notre Dame face off against the (1-0) Sydenham Golden Eagles on Thursday. (0-1) Ernestown will take on (0-2) Bayridge while the (2-0) La Salle Black Knights will meet the (1-1) Holy Cross Crusaders on Friday.
Runningback #70 Carson Reid evades defenders in the Falcons’ Thursday win.
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