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NCAFA
Minor Football
Cumberland
Panthers peewee squad locks up quarterfinal berth
By
Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online
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Cumberland Panthers running back Shubham Nayyer
leaps over a Bel-Air Lion defender during
second quarter action in their peewee game
on Sunday. Fred Sherwin/Photo
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The
Cumberland Panthers peewee team has locked up a berth
in the A-Cup quarterfinals next weekend after downing
the Bel-Air Lions 26-6 on Sunday.
The
Panthers capitalized on two big plays to take a 13-0 in
the opening quarter and then let their defense took over
as they completely shutdown the Lions until the closing
moments of the game.
Alexandre
Lawrie hooked up with Nicholas Renaud on a long pass and
run play for the first touchdown of the game and then
Owain Mclaughlin made a spectacular diving catch in the
end zone for the second major score.
The
Panthers threatened to add to their lead in the second
quarter, but a mishandled snap led to a missed 20 yard
field goal attempt and a balloon pass to Renaud was intercepted
in the end zone.
As
a steady rain started to fall in the second half, the
Panthers burned the Lions for another big play, this time
on the ground as big Dylan Chamoun rumbled for 54 yards
before he was taken down on the one yard line.
The
touchdown saving tackle only delayed the inevitable as
Chamoun scored on a one-yard plunge on the very next play.
The
Panthers completed their scoring on an eight yard pass
from Lawrie to McLaughlin in the fourth quarter to increase
their lead to 25-0.
The
Lions were unable to pick up a first down until their
final series of the game when they were able to score
on a big play of their own to make the final score 25-6.
The Panthers defence was led by Josh Earl at defensive
tackle and Nathan Amesbury at middle linebacker, who teamed
up to completely shutdown the middle against the Lions.
The
win improves the Panthers record to 5-3, good enough for
fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
The
first round of the playoffs will see the top four teams
in each conference cross over as the fourth place team
in one conference will play the first place team in the
other conference and the third place team will play the
second place team. The four winning teams will then play
for the NCAFA A-Cup and the four losing teams will compete
for the B-Cup.
The
Panthers are hoping to play for the A-Cup, but first they
must get past the Bell Warriors which will be no easy
task. The Warriors have averaged 47 points on offence,
while their defence has posted four shutouts in seven
games. Their only loss of the regular season was against
the North Gloucester Giants and they narrowly got by the
Nepean Redskins 49-48.
Panthers
head coach Tim Amesbury is hoping Sunday's win will mark
a turning point for the team which lost three straight
coming into the game after starting the season 4-0.
"We
made a major adjustment on defence and that seems to have
helped a lot. Our schedule didn't really help us. We played
some weaker teams at the beginning of the season and rolled
up some big wins and then we played some stronger teams
and we got caught thinking we were better than we actually
were. I think that's behind us now and we're ready for
the playoffs," said Amesbury.
All
four Panther teams managed to qualify for the playoffs
led by the tyke squad which finished the season undefeated.
The mosquito team finished fourth in their conference
with a 5-3 record and the bantam team finished second
with a 6-2 record.
(Posted
9:30 a.m., Oct. 15)
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