Senior Boys Football
St. Peter Knights successfully defend city championship
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

The St. Peter Knights senior boys football team celebrates after winning the Tier 1 city championship on Thursday. Fred Sherwin/Photoo

The St. Peter Knights successfully defended the National Capital Tier 1 senior boys football championship on Thursday thanks to a stellar defensive effort, a clutch field goal by Ryan Begin and a crucial blocked kick by Dan Fair with no time left on the clock.

The Knights made it to the city championship thanks mainly to their explosive offense, but it was their defence led by linebackers Nick Lecour and Kyle Hodder that led them to victory against the St. Mark’s Lions on a frost covered Minto Field.

Both defences were on top of their game in the first half as the two teams had a combined total of 51 yards on offence and just three first downs.

The Knights’ lone first down came on their opening series which also saw Begin leave the game with a strained knee which he injured while recovering a botched handoff on a third and two play.

After losing their starting quarterback and arguably the best kicker in the city, the Knights’ defence became even more focused on the task at hand, if that was even possible.

The Lions caught their first break of the game midway through the first quarter when the Knights misplayed a punt on St. Mark’s 35-yard line. What followed was an exchange of possessions that saw the Lions gradually improve their field position as Begin remained on the sideline with an injured knee.

The Lions eventually broke off a decent punt return down to the Knights’ 35-yard line where the referees tacked on another 30 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct and objectionable contact by St. Pete’s.

With St. Mark’s threatening to score the game’s first touchdown, the Knights defence slammed the door with a timely sack by Chris Zablocki and a key tackle by Lecour and Hodder. The Knights then dodged a bullet when Chris Fanning’s 15 yard field goal attempt hit the upright.

St. Pete’s offence began to show some signs of life as the second half got underway, marching the ball 49 yards to the Lions’ 24-yard line where they eventually stalling on a third and one play.

The third quarter also saw the return of Ryan Begin, whose booming punts kept St. Mark’s from gaining field position.

The two teams kept each other in check through the thid quarter and into the fourth. The TSN turning point of the game was a 35-yard pass from Alex Skinner to Steve Masterson which gave the Knights a first down on the Lions 41-yard line.

The Knights then went with a four man stacked backfield, bringing in 6-foot-6, 310 lb. Jeff Veinoitte and Lecour to block for Isaiah Harris and Demetri Dalekos. The move caught the Lions off guard.

After the Knights managed to pick up another 21 yards on the ground, Begin stepped gingerly on to the field and promptly drilled an 18-yard field goal to put his team up 3-0 with under four minutes left to go in the game.

Dan Fair came up huge for the Knights on the Lions next possession, stopping Kadeem Vallaincourt at the line of scrimmage on first down, and then combining with Veinotte for a sack on second and 10 to force St. Mark’s to punt the ball.

The Lions would get one more chance to tie the game in the final minute when they benefitted from a questionable illegal contact call against the Knights on what should have been the final play of the game.

With no time left on the clock the Lions lined up for 26-yard field goal attempt to tie the game and send it into overtime. As the ball was snapped, Fair bolted across the line of scrimmage and managed to get his left hand on the ball to block the kick and preserve the win for St. Pete’s.

“The only thought in my mind was to block the kick,” Fair said after the game. “We were expecting a tough game. The city championship is always a big deal.”

The game’s other hero was amazingly nonchalant in summing up his role in
delivering St. Pete’s their fifth city championship in the last seven years.

“It was nothing I couldn’t handle. I knew there was a lot of pressure. I just kicked it right down the centre,” said Begin, after a number of his teammates jokingly dropped to the ground to kiss his right knee.

After the trophy presentation, Knights head coach Jim Mick gave his defence props for keeping the Lions off the scoreboard.

“They were phenomonal. In a way it wasn’t fair because our offence kept going two and out, two and out. We weren’t moving the ball very effectively and we weren’t doing a very good job on special teams,” said Mick.

As important as winning the city championship is, the next game is the one the graduating seniors on the team have been looking forward to all season long. After winning the championship last year, they lost 36-7 to the Frontenac Falcons in the National Capital Bowl semi-final and missed out on a chance to play at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

The Falcons were upset by the Holy Cross Crusaders in the Kingston Area Secondary School Athletic Association championship last week and the Crusaders managed to knock off Thousand Islands Secondary School from Brockville for the Seaway Valley championship on Thursday.

The Crusaders were trailing the Thousand Island Pirates 23-22 with less than three minutes to go in the game before thet scored the go aherd touchdown and added a two point conversion for the win. The Crusaders must now play the Arnprior RedHawks on Tuesday to determine who plays the Knights next Saturday.

NCSSAA Senior Boys
Tier 1 Championship

St. Peter Knights

Rushing: # 31 Demetri Dalekos 4/11yds; # 33 Isaiah Harris 12/25yds

Passing: # 12 Alex Skinner 8-18, 108 yds; # 9 Ryan Begin 1-1 18 yds

Receiving: # 2 Nick Wakim 4/47 yds; # 5 Steve Masterson 3/56 yds; # 31 Isaiah Harris 1/18 yds; # 85 Harrison Lowe 1/5 yds

Sacks: # 42 Chris Zablocki

Kick-offs: # 9 Ryan Begin 2/90

Kick-off returns: # 37 Shane Dabros 1/21 yds

Punts: # 9 ryan Begin 4/197 yds; # 85 Harrison Lowe 5/163 yds; #12 Alex Skinner 1/32 yds

Punt returns: # 37 Shane Dabros 4/16, #2 Nick Wakim 4/-5

Field goals: # 9 Ryan Begin 1/1 22 yds

Tackles: # 54 Nick Lecour 4 solo, 7 assists; # 20 Kyle Hodder 4 solo, 4 assists; # 75 Kristian Lawrence 4 solo; # 48 Dan Fair 3 solo, 1 assist; # 37 Shane Dabros 2 solo, 1 assist; # 58 Jeff Veinotte 2 solo, 1 assist; # 55 Jamaar King 1 solo, 5 assists; # 95 Tyler Jaworski 1 solo, 2 assists; # 98 Trey Morgan 1 solo, 2 assists; # 42 Chris Zablocki 1 solo; # 89 Brian Hughes 1 solo; # 99 Shane Patrick 1 solo; # 14 Mike Penny 1 assist; # 52 Kevin Fox 1 assist; # 44 Billy Shaw 1 assist

St. Mark's Lions

Rushing: # 33 Jesse Brown 18/64yds, # 36 Arty Nault 7/17yds, # 31 Kadeem Vallaincourt 4/8yds; # 5 Curtis Brown 2/5yds

Passing: # 5 Curtis Brown 1-2 15 yds

Receiving: # 18 Charles Belanger 1/15 yds

Fumble recovery: # 65 Jon Dunlop; # 89 Mike Nuttall

Sacks: # 66 Justin Schilt (1)

Kick-offs: # 50 Chris Fanning 1/54yds

Kick-off returns: # 31 Kadeem Vallaincourt 2/17yds

Punts: # 50 Chris Fanning 12/475yds

Punt returns: # 31 Kadeem Vallaincourt 2/51yds; # 28 Brendan Johnson 1/25yds

Tackles: # 54 Drew Morris 3 solo. 1 assist; # 25 Ben Hoglund 3 solo; # 74 Taylor Martin 1 solo, 1 assist; # 28 Brendan Johnson 1 solo; # 52 Mitchell Wilson 1 solo, 1 assist; # 53 Will Parker 1 assist; # 63 Eric Jadowski 1 solo

(Posted 11:30 a.m., Nov. 5)

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