Senior Boys Football
St. Peter Knights capture school's second OFSAA bowl championship in four years
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

The St. Peter Knights Nick Lecour returns a punt during the first half of the National Capital Bowl on Wednesday. Fred Sherwin/Photo

TORONTO -- St. Peter High School has had some great football teams over the years, starting with the '97 squad which went undefeated in eight games to capture the school's first city championship.

The 2005 team rebounded from a loss late in the regular season against the St. Mark's Lions to beat the very same Lions in the city championship and go on to win the school's first ever National Capital Bowl.

But no team wearing the silver and blue has accomplished what the 2009 edition of the Knights have accomplished in going a perfect 10-0 and winning both the city championship and the National Capital Bowl in the process.

The Knights topped off their dream season with an imprerssive 37-22 win over the Crestwood Mustangs from Peterborough in Wednesday's OFSAA Bowl Series at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

The Bowl Series is actually five different games pitting teams from the province's five different regions against one another. For instance, the National Capital Bowl features the top two teams from Eastern Ontario. The Golden Horseshoe Bowl pits the top two teams from the Hamilton/Niagara region against each other and the Metro Bowl is played between the top two teams in the Greater Toronto Area. There is also the Northern Bowl and the Western Bowl.

After coming up short in their quest to play in the National Capital Bowl last year, the Knights weren't about to waste the opportunity this time around and other than some sloppy tackling in the second half and a misplayed opening kick that resulted in a single for the Mustangs, the Knights were full measure for the win.

St. Pete's used their entire arsenal in defeating the Mustangs. Ryan Begin kicked a pair of field goals from 46 and 13 yards and added a single on a missed attempt from the 34; Isaiah Harris ran for 91 yards on 14 carries and scored a touchdown; Shane Dabros and Nick Lecour both ran back kicks to set up major scores; and Alex Skinner threw for over 150 yards including a pair of 40-plus bombs to Steve Masterson and Nick Wakim, the later of which drove the final nail in the Mustangs' coffin.

After giving up a single on the opening kickoff, the Knights prevented the Mustangs from picking up a first down and on the opening series of the game and forced them to punt the ball.

St. Peter used their first series to establish thier running game with Harris and Delakos both picking decent yardage. The Knights managed to move the ball across midfield and into Mustangs territory before sending Begin onto the field to attempt a 46-yard field goal.

Kicking in the climate controled confines of the Rogers Centre, Begin split the uprights with room to spare. It was a good omen. From there, the Knights defence took over.

Chris Zablocki intercepted Dylan Kemp on the Mustangs' 37-yard line to set up thei first TD of the afternoon -- a one yard by Harris aroiund the right side.

After the ensuing kickoff, the Knights picked off Kemp again. Jamar King anticipated the pass perfectly and stepped in front of the intended receiver just as the ball arrived.

After a pair of incomplete passes, Begin was sent onto the field again to attempt a 34-yarder, only this time the ball went wide left, but it was kicked hard enough to go through the back of the end zone to count as a point and the first quarter ended with the Knights up 11-1.

As the second quarter got underway, the Mustrangs put together their first sustained drive of the day, marching the ball 57 yards to the Knights 18-yard line. After losing two yards on a second and three play, the Mustangs sent kicker Ben Nanni on to the field to attempt a 25-yard field goal, but just as he was marching off his steps, he grabbed the ball and shoveled it to Tyler Lefley who came up a yard short of the first down marker.

After taking over on downs, St. Peter gave the ball right back when Brendan Birkens, the tallest man on the field, tipped an Alex Skinner pass into the hands of Andrew Anderson who returned it to the Knights' 20-yard line. Two plays later, Kemp found Evan Grieger in the end zone to cut the Knights' lead to 11-8 with just over five minutes to go in the half.

Just as the momentum meter appeared to be leveling out, Shane Dabros returned the ensuing kickoff 57 yards to the Mustangs' 33-yard line, where it took the Knights just three plays to re-establish their 10 point lead on a 22-yard run by Skinner.

And the Knights weren't done yet. Sensing that the Mustangs would be playing on their heels after giving up the quick toucdown, St. Pete's went for an onside kick which Zablocki recovered on the Mustangs' 50-yard line.

When the Knights couldn't pick up a first down, Begin booted the ball out of bounds at Crestwood's 10-yard line. When they falled to gain any yardage, the Mustangs decided to give up a safety rather than punt the ball from their own end zone and give the Knights excellent field position with plenty of time left on the clock.

The rules state that if you give up a safety you have to kick the ball offf from your own 35-yard line, which the Mustangs did. Waiting for the ball on
St. Pete's 32-yard line was Nick Lecour who returned it 26 yards to Crestwood's 52-yard line.

After Delakos picked up 15 yards on first down, Skinner hooked up with Steve Masterson on back-to-back passes to give the Knights a commanding 19-point lead, up 27-8, which is how the first half ended.

Despite getting burned by a late touchdown in the final minute of the first half, the Mustangs came out ready to play in the third quarter, marching the ball 81 yards on their opening drive, culminating with an 11-yard touchdown run by Stephen Hons.

After the two teams exchanged possessions, the Knights struck again as Skinner hooked up with Christian Eanga for a 42 yard pass and run play which set up a 13-yard field goal by Begin to give St. Pete's a 30-15 lead early in the fourth quarter.

As the two teams exchanged possessions, the clock became the Knights' biggest ally and the Mustangs' worst enemy as it ticked down to the three minute warning.

Crestwood caught a huge break when a 45-yard pass from Skinner to Lecour which would have given the Knights a first down deep in Mustangs' territory, was called back for holding.

St. Pete's was forced to punt the ball instead, and eight plays later Kemp dove across the goal line to make it an eight point game. After the Mustangs failed to recover the onside kick, the Knights put the game out of reach thanks to a 55-yard pass from Skinner to Nick Wakim on first down.

Zablocki's second interception of the game would provide the final coup de grace to the Mustangs' comeback chances, and as the final seconds ticked down the Knights stormed on to the field to celebrate the biggest win of their football careers. (continued below)

Members of the St. Peter Knights celebrate after winning the National Capital Bowl at the Rogers Cenrte in Toronto on Wednesday. The Knights defeated the Crestwood Mustangs from Peterborough 37-22 to win the school's second bowl championship io the last four years. Fred Sherwin/Photo

Asked what winning the National Capital Cup meant to him, graduating senior and co-captain Jeff Veinotte simply said that it meant everything to him.

"To be able to finish my high school career at St. Pete's by winning OFSAA on the biggest stage in high school football probably in all of Canada is a dream come true," said Veinotte, who has already signed a scholarship to play at the University of Buffalo next season.

Alex Skinner joined the Knights midway through the season after testing the waters at a prep school in Florida. The Knights quarterback said the team's confidence was sky high heading into the second half.

"We got good field position on them all day," said Skinner. "After the first half we knew we had the tools in our toolbox to pull out whenever we needed them. When they started scoring in the second half we juist answered back."

One of the most imporant tools the Knights had in their toolbox was the kicking ability of Ryan Begin who finished the game with two field goals, four converts and a single. He also punted the ball four times for 167 yards and three of the four punts were kicked out of bounds which negated any return.

"When I kicked the first one in warm up, it just came off my foot beautifully. I haven't kicked like this all season," said Begin who is also graduating this season.

Fellow Grade 12 senior, Shane Dabros, tried to put the win in perspective given the school's past successes on the gridiron.

"Everytime we go out to practice, we have to walk down the Hall of Champions and you see all the junior and senior championships and then the one OFSAA championship and you think wouldn't it be great if we actually won it, so to do it with the players we have is really nice," said Dabros. "In 2005 they had one loss, so to go undefeated it's kind of nice to be known as the best St. Pete's team statistically."

Asked where the current team would stack up in the Patheon of past champions at the school, Knights head coach Jim Mick said it would be one of the best if not the best.

"This team is so talented at every position. We always use the '97 team as the benchmark and this team stacks up against very well," said Mick.

View miore game pictures

OFSAA
National Capital Bowl

St. Peter Knights

Rushing: # 33 Isaiah Harris 14/91yds 1TD; # 12 Alex Skinner 1/21yds 1TD; # 32 Kenny Benoit 4/18yds; # 31 Demetri Dalekos 5/45yds; # 54 Nick Lecour 2/4yds

Passing: # 12 Alex Skinner 7-12, 158 yds, 1INT, 2TD

Receiving: # 2 Nick Wakim 2/61yds 1TD; # 5 Steve Masterson 2/38 yds 1TD; #15 Scott Berty 1/7yds; # 4 Christian Eanga 1/42yds; # 31 Isaiah Harris 1/10yds

Interception: # 42 Chris Zablocki (2); # 55 Jamar King (1)

Kick-offs: # 9 Ryan Begin 5/184 (36.8 yd avg.)

Kick-off returns: # 37 Shane Dabros 2/76 yds; # 54 Nick Lecour 1/27yds

Punts: # 9 Ryan Begin 4/171 yds (42 yd avg.)

Punt returns: # 37 Shane Dabros 1/12 yds

Field goals: # 9 Ryan Begin 46 yds, 13 yds; Missed from 34

Singles: # 9 Ryan Begin

Converts: # 9 Ryan Begin 4/4

Tackles: # 20 Kyle Hodder 4 solo, 3 assist; # 48 Dan Fair 3 solo, 2 assist;
# 42 Chris Zablocki 3 solo; # 54 Nick Lecour 2 solo, 2 assists; # 55 Jamaar King 2 solo, 2 assists; # 37 Shane Dabros 2 solo, 2 assist; # 75 Kristian Lawrence 1 solo; # 99 Shane Patrick 1 solo; # 98 Trey Morgan 1 solo; $ 28 Nick Gauthier 1 solo; # 44 Billy Shaw 1 solo; # 14 Mike Penny 1 solo; # 52 Kevin Fox 1 assist; # 95 Tyler Yaworski 1 assist; # 58 Jeff Veinotte 1 assist; # 31 Demetri Dalekos 1 assist.

Crestwood Mustangs

Rushing: # 8 Connor Blanchfield 12/67yds 1TD, # 25 Stephen Hons 9/93 yds 1TD, # 13 Dylan Kemp 4/26yds; # 76 Spencer Floyd 1/2yds; # 44 Tyler Lefley 1/3yds

Passing: # 13 Dylan Kemp 8-16 95 yds 3INT, 1TD

Receiving: # 25 Stephen Hons 3/37 yds; # 76 Spencer Floyd 2/12 yds;
# 15 Evan Grieger 1/17 yds 1TD; # 90 Brenden Birkens 1/20yds; # 32 Josh Clennen 1/9yds

Interception: # 82 Andrew Anderson (1)

Kick-offs: # 6 Ben Nanni 4/220 yds (46yd avg.); # 11 Jackson Severin 1/10yds

Kick-off returns: # 76 Spencer Floyd 2/31 yds

Punt returns: # 76 Spencer Floyd 1/21 yds

Singles: # 6 Ben Nanni

Converts: # 6 Ben Nanni 3/3

(Posted 2:30 p.m., Nov. 26)

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