NCAFA Minor Football
Bantam Bengals lone east end team to qualify for A-Cup championship
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

The Mews Orleans Bengals benefitted from an outstanding defensive effort and a hard-nosed running game to down the Myers Riders 8-1 on Sunday to advance to the NCAFA A-Cup championship next weekend. Fred Sherwin/Photo

The Mews Orleans Bengals bantam football team will get to play one more game this season when they face the Kanata Knights in the NCAFA A-Cup championship this Sunday afternoon.

The Bengals became the only east end team to qualify for the A-Cup finals when they beat the Myers Riders 8-1 on the weekend while the Cumberland Panther tyke and peewee teams were both eliminated from contention.

The Bengals relied on an outstanding defence, while the offence managed to put together a scoring drive late in the first half that resulted in the only touchdown of the game on a 35-yard pass from D'Arcy Lavoie to Taren Johnson.

In downing the Riders and earning a spot in Sunday's A-Cup championship, the Bengals avenged a 41-7 loss to Myers in Week 2 of the season, proving that the playoffs really are a whole new ball game.

The Orleans players won 't have much time to celebrate, however. Their opponents in the championship will be the Kanata Knights who have dominated the competition this season in racking up a perfect 10-0 record, including a 19-1 win over the Nepean Redskins in the weekend's other A-Cup semi-final.

The playoffs have also breathed new life into two other Bengals teams. After failing to win a game during the regular season, the mosquito Bengals have managed to qualify for the C-Cup championship thanks to a 22-14 overtime win over the West Carleton Wolverines on Friday.

The Bengals jumped out to a 14-0 first half lead on touchdowns by Kundera Provost-Yombo and Caelen Lepine, only to see the Wolverines answer back with 14 points in the second half. After neither team was able to score on their first possesions in overtime, Provost-Yombo scored on the Bengals second series. The team's defense then came up huge to stop the Wolverines on their second possession to win the game.

The Bengals peewee squad will also be playing for a C-Cup this week after they took care of business against the Nepean Redskins on Sunday, winning 39-13.

Both C-Cup championship games will be played on Wednesday night at the Nepean Sportsplex. The mosquito team will be taking on the North Gloucester Giants at 6:20 p.m. and the peewee squad will face the Bel-Air Lions at 8:30 p.m.

Finally, the Mews Orleans Dukes qualified for the NCAFA midget championship by downing the Nepean Redskins 35-10 on Friday night. The Bengals will be hoping for a repeat performance against the Canterbury Mustangs in Friday night's title game after they handed the Mustangs their only loss of the regular season less than two weeks ago.

(Posted 9:30 p.m., Oct. 28)

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