THUNDER BAY – Kristof Lindstrom took the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown to lead the St. Ignatius Falcons to a second straight high school junior football victory to open the 2021 campaign.
It took all of the 13 seconds to give the Falcons the lead for good, the team starting to look almost every bit as good as the squads that captured six straight championships between 2012 and 2017.
“I just saw the opening and I was gone,” said Lindstrom, his team on Thursday downing the winless Westgate Tigers 21-7, their opponent falling to 0-2 on the season.
“I got a couple (good blocks).”
It was all about second efforts, said Falcons coach Martin Furtado.
“I think Kristoff Lindstrom broke two or three tackles and had a great run and put us on top. That set (Westgate) back. They’re a good team. I don’t think the score was any indication of what the game was like,” Furtado said.
“Then to start the second half, they had quite a drive on us and again, with second efforts, we blocked a field goal. It kept us with a bit of the lead and that helped us finish off the game.”
In the early going, it appeared St. Ignatius might run away the game and hide, but the Tigers D came up big on the Falcons second possession, which started on the Westgate 38.
Running back Quinton Dawd opened the drive with a 12-yard run, but Tigers defensive back Carter Vaillant picked off St. Ignatius quarterback Lucas Dupuis and ran it back 32 yards to the Falcons 52. However, Westgate lost 13 yards on their ensuing drive and the Falcons took over at the Tigers 53 and marched down the field for another score, largely on the back of Dawes.
Dawes gained 50 of the 63 yards needed – a block-in-the-back penalty setting them back an additional 15 yards, including a 23-yard run that brought the Falcons to the Westgate five, and Angelo Marino barrelled it in from there for a 13-0 St. Ignatius advantage.
The Tigers took over on their own nine following the kickoff and the Falcons D pushed them back to the goal line when Roch Chicoine sacked Westgate quarterback Mitchell Papineau, who then kneeled in the end zone and conceded a safety for another two St. Ignatius points.
Mateo Iossa later booted a 21-yard field goal and the Falcons took an 18-0 lead into the half.
The break was just what the Tigers needed.
Westgate, who turned to Papineau and the passing game in the second half, after throwing for just eight yards in the first two quarters, found success through the air.
Papineau completed nine of 11 passes for 99 yards after the break, including an 18-yard third-quarter scoring pass to receiver Griffin Hlady, who hauled in four catches for 52 yards in front of a lively crowd at Fort William Stadium.
Penalties did in the Tigers in, in the fourth.
Papineau connected with running back Lance Basalyga for a 39-yard catch that would have moved the chains inside the red zone, but a clipping call negated the play, and two plays later a botched handoff resulted in a turnover, the Falcons Nolan Poirier recovering the pigskin on the Tigers 24. It led to a 23-yard field goal, Leach’s second of the day, the final score of the game.
Hammarskjold 15, St. Patrick 6: Taylor Main had a 12-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and Nolen Sloan booted fieldd goals of 10 and 22 yards to lead the Vikings to victory. Quarterback Tom Hardie had the lone score for the Saints, a six-yard run in the fourth.
