ST. CATHARINES - There were more than 1,400 fans at Kiwanis Field Saturday night and the Niagara Spears looked like they had everything in place to win the Ontario Varsity Football League championship.
The Ottawa Myers Riders, howeer, had other plans for who would be wearing the 2013 varsity championship ring.
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The Riders came into the game undefeated at 10-0 and were well worth the price of admission.
Overall, Riders quarterback Nick Gorgichuk completed 24 passes for 299 yards and three touchdowns, putting an exclamation point on his record-breaking season in which he threw for more than 4,000 yards in just 11 games.
“This team set 17 OVFL records this year, and he (Gorgichuk) is the best quarterback I have ever seen in this league,” Riders coach Max Palladino said as his team celebrated their first varsity championship.
“We had a bad taste in our mouths after losing to London last year in the finals, and this win feels incredible because we talked about this right from the beginning of the year.”
The Spears actually went ahead 3-0 on a Michael Domagala field goal to start the game, but the Riders came back with a vengeance, scored three straight touchdowns in the next 12 minutes and surged ahead 21-3.
The Spears put together a 70-yard drive in the middle of the second quarter and had the crowd and momentum on their side as they looked poised to score. But Spears quarterback Blair Robertson’s pass was intercepted by Riders linebacker Brad Herbst, who ran the ball back 85 yards to give his team a 25-point lead.
Early in the second half, the Spears didn’t give up and their defence came up big with a two-point safety, which also returned the ball to their offence. The ensuing drive, however, ended in another interception thrown by Robertson. The Riders then put the game away when they took a 23-point lead with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Gorgichuk to wide receiver Kory Morgan.
“Their quarterback actually gets rid of the ball really quickly,” Spears defensive coordinator Sean Jones said. “He throws it well and their receivers did a really good job of catching it. “We missed a couple of assignments, but at the end of the day their offence played really well against us.
Spears 20 Riders 42
St. Catharines Standard Star of the Game: Ottawa quarterback Nick Gorgichuk with 299 passing yards and three touchdown completions.
For the Myers Riders: Offence: Jonathon Cimankinda, 59 yards rushing and two touchdowns; Kory Morgan, 135 yards receiving and two touchdowns; Jaeger Prot, 24 yards receiving and touchdown; Connor Ayre, six extra-point conversions; Defence: Jordan Grogichuk, interception; Brad Herbst, interception.
Here's a team roster, as posted on the OVFL website. The players highlighted in red were named to the league's all-star team. Considering that we are referring to an undefeated championship team, that there are only three guys so awarded is a bit surprising. Guess it's a team effort. ;-)
1 QB Gorgichuk, Nick
2 LB Butler, Justin
3 QB Jones, Costa
4 DB Laing-Richardson, Cam
5 RB Cimankinda, Jonathan
6 LB Cimankinda, Alain
7 QB Duffy, Matt
9 WR Charles, Rouben
10 WR Krzaniak, Nick
11 WR Malenfant, Cassidy
14 DB Jean-Baptiste, Philip
16 QB Sheahan, Kyle
19 WR Bradley, Mathieu
20 DB Gorgichuk, Jordon
21 DB Smyth, Graham
22 DB Elliott, Ty
23 RB Tanti, Keenan
24 DB Pierce, Daley
25 WR Taha, Hussein
26 RB Guest, Andrew
29 LB Ramos, Vicente
30 DB Doucette, Jordan
31 RB Ferron, Jahdel
32 DB Matthews, Taylor
33 RB Keenan, Charlie
34 WR Barrie, Kiell
35 WR Morgan, Kory
36 RB Legault, Jacob
39 RB Moore, Julien
42 DL Ferris, Scott
44 DB Henselwood, Mitchell
45 LB Herbst, Brad
47 LB Bakshi, Akash
48 DB Clayton, Jackson
50 LB Fletcher, Kyrique
51 LB Bonhomme, Ben
53 OL Johnson, Will
54 OL Butt, Kris
55 OL Scott, Richard
56 DL Bonifacio, Mark
57 OL Bolumbe, Gedeon
58 DL Allarie, John
59 OL Pisani, Josef
60 OL Young, Tyler
61 SB Lachance, Jason
63 OL Brakus, Andrew
64 OL Lukusa, Paul
65 OL Rowlands, Thomas
67 OL Redmond, Conor
68 DL Caissie, Paul
70 PK Ayre, Connor
73 LB Buckley, Jason
75 WR Cenatus, Eddy
76 DL Adams, Brett
77 SB Prot, Jaegar
83 SB Trunzo, Vincenzo
84 SB Papalia, Joseph
85 DB Pankow, Patrick
88 DB Urbani, Nicolas
91 DL Dervisevic, Jasmin
92 DL Bolton, Parker
93 DL Parker, Cabe
99 DL Derdzinski, James
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