The d’Youville Panthers remained undefeated in a tight defensive game against a strong Augustine Falcons team. The Panthers found themselves tied 0-0 at halftime in an extremely physical game where field position was key. Both teams found themselves unable to move the football against each other’s defense.
In the third quarter, the Falcons opened up the scoring with a 38 yard touchdown pass. The extra point was blocked by the Panthers.
With only 4 minutes remaining in the game d’Youville began a drive on its own 43 yard line, where QB Ben Bortolussi connected on a 32 yard pass with Marquis Richards. On the next play, RB Damian Darko broke out for a 28 yard run. The drive was capped off by a 3 yard touchdown run by CFC Top 100 Damian Halstead. Kicker, Shawn Dogra added a much needed extra point to put the Panthers up 7-6 with only 2:24 left in the game.
After the kickoff, Augustine went back to their jet sweep play but d’Youville stood their ground and made 2 key stops. On third down the Falcons attempted a deep pass up the seam which was picked off by CB Kieran Dee. The Panthers attempted to run out the clock, but the Falcons used both of their timeouts to get the ball back. When Augustine attempted another deep post pass FS Michael Smith tipped the pass and CB Josh Sabino intercepted the ball and brought it back to the Falcons’ 14 yard line. With no timeouts remaining for the Falcons, d’Youville was able to take a couple of knees to run out the clock and secure a victory to remain undefeated in Peel’s North Division.
The Panthers are now 4-0-1 and are only behind the St. Roch Ravens who are currently 5-0. d’Youville will now travel to St. Roch to take on the Ravens for a much anticipated matchup, in which the winner will be at the top of the north division.
Panthers head coach J.P. Falacho commented saying, “This is obviously a very important game for us. St. Roch has a very well rounded team, and we know that this will be our biggest challenge this year. Our guys are pretty focused, and know that we have to execute in order for us to be successful.” When asked about the talent in Peel this season Falacho replied, “It’s a really exciting year for football in Peel. There are a lot of good teams, but all of our coaches believe that we have a solid team that is willing to battle for all 48 minutes.”
The Ravens will host the Panthers this Thursday at 12:00 noon, followed by the juniors at 2:00pm.
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