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NCAFA
Minor Football
Bantam
Panthers remain unbeaten, peewee team suffers first loss
By
Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online
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Cumberland Panthers receiver Brandon Smith
scored two touchdowns in the bantam Panthers
27-0 win over the North Gloucester Giants
on Sunday. Fred Sherwin/Photo
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The Cumberland Panthers bantam team remains tied for first
place in the East Conference of the National Capital Amateur
Football Association after downing the North Gloucester
Giants 26-0 on Sunday.
The
Panthers were led by quarterback Jackson Bennett who picked
the Giants defence apart like a surgeon. He threw a pair
of touchdown passes to Brandon Smith and another to Kurleigh
Gittens to account for three of the Panthers' four touchdowns.
The fourth major was scored by Jarryd Rushford on an interception
return in the second quarter.
The
defence was equally impressive in posting thier second
shutout in a row. North Gloucester never made it past
midfield, and in the third quarter they only managed one
play which ended up being an interception.
Cumberland's
first score didn't come until the late stages of the second
quarter when Bennett hit a streaking Gitttens for a 30-yard
touchdown pass with less than three minutes remaining.
The
Panthers would get another chance to score before the
half was done. After the Giants went three and out on
their next series, Bennett connected on a 31-yard pass
to Gittens to give Cumberland a first down on the nine.
He then found Smith in the end zone to give his team a
14-0 lead with less than a minute to go in the halfit
to the end zone.
Rather
than be content to just run out the clock, the Giants
decided to air the ball out which cost them dearly as
Rushford made the interception and returned it for the
Panthers third major score in less than three minutes.
Cumberland's
fourth touchdown came at the end of the third quarter
when Bennett capped the longest series of the game with
a 10-yard pass over the middle to Smith. Tristan Tessier
added the extra point to improve the Panthers lead to
27-0, which would be how the game ended.
At
5-0 the Panthers are in first place in the East Conference,
one game ahead of the Gloucester South Raiders who are
4-0. The two teams will meet each other next week with
the East Conference championship on the line.
The
peewee East Conference championship may already be a done
deal as the Giants ran roughshod on their Cumberland Panther
counterparts on Sunday behind a career performance by
Giants running back Jonathan Sutherland.
Sutherland
scored eight touchdowns, including five in the frst half,
to lead his team to a 69-36 win between the two previously
unbeaten teams.
The
two teams exchanged a pair of touchdowns each in the first
quarter before a pair of Panther miscues allowed the Giants
to take the lead fo good.
North
Gloucester scored on each of their first six possessions
to put the game out of reach before it was even half over.
Cumberland was able to score a pair of touchdowns in the
second half, but the outcome had already been decided
by then.
Doubling
as the Giants' placekicker, Sutherland ended up accounting
for 55 of the team's 69 points, including nine pf 10 converts.
North Gloucester's other two touchdowns came via the air
on passes from John Bonzanello to Liam Maher.
The
Panthers got two touchdowns each from Nick Renaud and
Shubham Nayyer and a major also from Daniel Chamoun.
Cumberland
will try to bounce against the Gloucester South Raiders
on Friday, while the Giants will be looking to extend
their unbeaten streak against the South Ottawa Mustags
on Sunday.
(Posted
8 a.m., Sept. 24)
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