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Trojans blank Tigers to earn chance for final title shot

Braeden Prochnicki scores 92-yard rushing touchdown to lead Churchill to a 17-0 win over Westgate in senior football semifinal.
Braeden Prochnicki
Churchill's Braeden Prochnick races past Westgate's Josh Grant on his way to a 92-yard rushing touchdown on Sunday, Nov. 12, 2017 at Fort William Stadium (Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com)

THUNDER BAY – A storybook finish is still in play for the Sir Winston Churchill Trojans.

Braeden Prochnicki rushed for 201 yards and scored on a 92-yard scamper to ensure the undefeated Trojans will suit up for one final football game before their school closes in June, their 17-0 win over the Westgate Tigers landing them in Saturday’s championship game against the Hammarskjold Vikings.

Prochnicki said the team wants to go out with title in the worst possible way.

“It’s a statement game for sure, to show the city who we really are,” he said.

And the best might yet be to come.

“I feel like we’ve worked hard. I still have feel we have a lot of repressed talent that we haven’t shown yet and I feel like it’s going to come out next Saturday,” Prochnicki said.

Two-way star James Basalyga, who caught two passes for 25 yards, said it’s a great feeling to advance to the final, though it’s only the latest step on a journey that began in camp in August.

“We’ve worked so hard for this all year,” Basalyga said. “We started early and had a good preseason and I think that really helped us. Obviously going 6-0 in the regular season is a really big confidence booster.

“We kind of messed up with some stupid things in this game. We should not be playing like that. We should be executing every play. We should have better games and higher scores, but we’ll see what happens next week.”

Cleaning things up is a task that will fall to coach Mike Doromko and his staff.

He wasn’t too concerned with their performance, despite only managing a 35-yard Dyk Taw field goal in the opening half.

The scores were bound to come, the 17-year veteran said.

“We’ve just got to keep grinding. That’s what we’ve always done. We’re always better in the second half. We get a feel for what’s happening and we make adjustments in the second half and they always work.”

Neither side was really able to get much ball movement in the opening half, the defences taking control of the game on a slightly snow-covered Fort William Stadium field.

The Trojans also got into penalty trouble, a holding call wiping out a 25-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Dylan Ford to Basalyga late in the second, Churchill forced to settle for the field goal.

Prochnicki broke things open on the Trojans second possession of the second half, breaking loose down the left side for the 92-yard scoring run, Taw’s extra point making it 10-0.

“Without the blocking it would have just been a casual 10-yard carry. But with the blocking I saw a gap, took it and once I broke through the secondary I knew no one was going to be able to catch me,” Prochnicki said.

They'd add one more before the quarter came to a close. 

After extending the drive with a two-yard keeper on third-and-one, Ford found Connor Byerley in the final minute of the third, the Churchill receiver deking his way over the goal line for the 29-yard scoring strike.

The Tigers, led by Darian Fuchs' 77 yards on 17 carries, struggled to sustain drives, twice going three-and-out in the second half and turning it over on downs on the Churchill 42 late in the fourth.

Saturday’s championship game is scheduled for 1 p.m.



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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