(Posted 11:30 a.m., July 25)
Thunderstruck: Panthers end regular season with trio of losses to Toronto club
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

Cumberland Panther running back Ashton Dickson tries to break through a tackle against the Toronto Thunder on Saturday. The Thunder ended up winning the game 24-23 on the last play of the game. Fred Sherwin/Photo

Millennium Park was the scene of three highly competitive football games on Saturday as the Cumberland Panthers hosted the visiting Toronto Thunder at the Peewee, JV and OV levels..

In the opening game of the day, the Panthers' peewee squad dug themselves an early hole by committing two turnovers which the Thunder turned into 12 points.

Cumberland's only touchdown in the first half came on a spectacular 95 yard punt return by Nathaniel Hamlin.

The Panthers offence sputtered through the first two quarters until Jake Molinski came into the game at quarterback in the final minute of the half and threw a 45-yard pass to Joshua Miller on the last play of the half.

Molinski had been out of the line-up with a dislocated shoulder for the past six weeks and wasn't expected to come back until the playoffs. His shoulder looked fine on Saturday, however, as he completed five of eight passes for 109 yards and a touchdown before leaving the game in the fourth quarter with a sore tail bone after taking a particularly hard hit.

Prior to his coming off the field, Molinski had rallied the Panthers to within a point on a 20 yard pass to Dimitri Vallaincourt which narrowed the deficit to 18-17 with plenty of time to go.

Molinski was knocked out of the game on the Panthers' next series and his replacement was forced to cough up the ball after being tackled in the backfield. Five plays later, Toronto scored an insurance TD to go up 24-17 and the rest of the game was elementary.

Fortunately, the game meant very little in terms of playoff ramifications because the Panthers had already locked up the first wild card seed in the Wettges Conference. They will be hosting Pickering next Saturday, although the time has not yet been determined.

While the opening game on Saturday did not have any playoff ramifications, the second game did as a spot in the post season was up for grabs in the JV matchup between the Panthers and the Thunder.

Cumberland dug themselves an early hole, falling behind 14-3 before finally managing to put together a touchdown drive in the fourth quarter that was capped by a nine-yard run by Steven Dalekos.

Down 14-9 at that point, the Panthers successfully decided to go for the two point conversion which Alvan Julien managed to convert on a spectacular run in which he straight-armed the first defender and ran over the second one.

On the very next series, the Thunder took just two plays to move the ball 90 yards and improve their lead to 21-11. Not to be outdone, the Panthers responded with a quick touchdown of their own on their next series when Kevin Bois found a wide open Connor Rockwell on a halfback option that covered 70 yards.

That would be as close as the Panthers would get, however, as the Thunder held on for the 21-18 victory and a berth in the playoffs.

The best game of the day was definitely saved for the last as the Panthers undefeated Varsity squad took on the OVFL defending champion Toronto Thunder who were also undefeated heading into the heavyweight tilt.

After spotting the Thunder an early 7-0 lead, the Panthers bounced back, scoring 18 unanswered points on a pair of touchdowns by Andrew Mullings and Ashton Dickson and two field goals by Ryan Begin to take a 18-7 lead into the halftime break.

The second half was a completely different story, however, as Toronto quarterback Jazz Lindsay started finding his receivers with increasing regularity. The result was an early touchdown on a quarterback draw which narrowed the deficit to just four points.

Two series later, the Thunder were knocking on the door once again, but the Panther defence managed to hold up, forcing Toronto to attempt a long field goal. That's when disaster struck. Cumberland took not one, but two successive offside penalties, giving the Thunder a first down and a new lease on life.

The Toronto team made the Panthers pay for their transgression, scoring the go ahead touchdown two plays later.

Cumberland caught their own break two series later when Toronto's punter flubbed a kick near midfield and one of their players was whistled for unsportsmanlike behaviour, giving the Panthers excellent field position.

Seven plays later, Alex Skiinner handed the ball off to Dickson who ran it in from five yards out to put the Panthers back in front 18-14.

Needing a touchdown to win the game, the Thunder managed to work the ball downfield in the final three minutes to set up one final play at Cumberland's 40-yard line for all the marbles.

As the minute flag dropped to the ground signalling no time left, Lindsay managed to avoid getting sacked and heaved the ball into the endzone where wide receiver Kevin Prempeh managed to tip it into the air and then made the reception on his back as he fell to the ground.

It was an incredible ending to an incredible game, the result of which means the Panthers will host a wild card game next week against the winner of Sunday's game between the Pickering Dolphins and the Huronia Stallions.

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)

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