The Ottawa Sooners had started their 2013 season with three straight losses, including two at home. This past Saturday, they travelled to Burlington and notched their first victory. The article below is by Kevin Nagel for thespec.com.
Hamilton - Here’s how the Ottawa Sooners scored their points in a 29-13 Ontario Football Conference victory over the Burlington Braves at Nelson Stadium on Saturday night.
• Running back Carl Bernade scores on a one-yard run after his fumble on the preceding play, recovered by Burlington, was wiped out by a Braves offside penalty.
• Quinton Soares kicks a 15-yard field goal following an interception by Sooners’ John Skubic on a pass from Braves quarterback Mickey Trumper .
• Bernade scores his second TD on a six-yard run five plays after teammate Chad Grimonte blocks a punt by Braves’ Mark Milan that gives the Sooners the ball at the Braves 15 yard line.
• Soares kicks a 39-yard field goal after Trumper fumbles the ball at Braves’ 30-yard line.
• Soares kicks another field goal three plays after a Burlington penalty on a punt from the Braves’ own 16-yard-line results puts the ball on the Burlington 19.
The points on Braves miscues gave the Sooners a 22-7 fourth quarter lead, which they extended with a clock-eating drive culminating in another short Bernade TD run. It was the team’s first win of the Ontario Football Conference season.
It ties the Sooners with the Braves, also 1-3, in league standings.
“This was huge,” sighed Ottawa Sooners coach Matt Murfitt, whose team is 70 per cent first-year juniors. “We know we have Hamilton next week and that’s a tough game so we had to get the W tonight. We’ve been playing well but we just haven’t been able to finish. Tonight we were able to hang in there.”
Game stats suggest the Braves could have been a lot closer, or ahead of the Sooners, in points, with more disciplined play. The Braves gained 287 yards of net offence, 59 yards more than Ottawa.
Down 16-0 at the half, the Braves finally got on the board when Trumper recovered from an early snap that him when he wasn’t looking. The surprised QB quickly gathered up the ball and found Tyler Bistrovich in the endzone for a nine-yard touchdown, Mark Milan converting.
Braves coach Kelly Hughes inserted Mark Divito in at quarterback late in the game and he hit Cyrlin Cadete for a 15-yard major against a Sooners team in a prevent defence. Still Divito was 6-for-6 for 72 yards. The TD, followed by an unsuccessful two-point convert attempt, narrowed the Sooners’ lead to 16 points with only 1:52 remaining. Burlington would get the ball again but ran out of downs and time at midfield.
Notes
• Nelson High School graduate Graham Kelly saw limited action at quarterback for the Sooners. He has split playing time with Matthew Levasseur this year but is still learning the ropes, according to Murfitt.
“Both quarterbacks are having a little trouble adjusting to the speed of the game at this level,” said the Ottawa coach. “It’s a steeper learning curve for Graham. He’s got the size. He just has to settle down and play football.”
Kelly, six-foot-seven and 250 pounds, played the entire game against Windsor and split time with Levasseur in the team’s opening game. Despite the limited action in his hometown, it was a thrill for him.
“Definitely on the ride here I was super-excited,” he said. “I only played about 10 per cent (last game) and the same tonight. It’s a team decision. You have to keep your head up and you gotta keep fighting in practice.”
Kelly, who is attending Algonquin College in Ottawa, also handles the team’s punting and kickoff duties, punting seven times and averaging just under 40 yards against the Braves.
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