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Junior Falcons double up Tigers

Jack Zhang scores twice to lead St. Ignatius to 26-13 win on Thursday afternoon.
Stanley Thompson Tyler Robertson
Westgate's Stanley Thompson (left) chases down St. Ignatius running back Tyler Robertson on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019 at Fort William Stadium. (Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com)

THUNDER BAY – It didn’t take the St. Ignatius Falcons long to find a crack in the Westgate Tigers defensive armour.

By the time the Tigers made the adjustment, they found themselves in a 13-0 hole.

Jack Zhang raced outside to the house from 34 yards out on the Falcons first drive of the game and Tyler Robertson cruised in for the score from 56 yards out on the first play of their second.

They’d go on to build a 26-0 lead early in the third quarter and doubled up the Tigers 26-13 to improve to 3-1, good for second spot in the high school junior football standings.

Zhang said the coaching staff early on noticed a flaw in the Westgate defence and decided to exploit it as long as possible.

“They kept crowding the middle, so the sweeps worked really well,” said Zhang, who capped the Falcons scoring early in the third with a nine-yard run, for his second major of the afternoon.

“The outside was pretty open.”

Being able to contribute to the win was special, he added.

“It felt really good. This is my first year playing football.”

Robertson was glad to get the win, coming off last week’s loss to the defending champion St. Patrick Saints.

“I think it’s good for a confidence booster, helping us get ready for next week.”

Robertson said the Tigers didn’t get off to the best start, which built plenty of momentum for St. Ignatius.

“But they definitely put up a good fight in the second half,” he said.

The touchdown run worked to perfection, Robertson added.

“It was a counter and there was a great hole I went through,” Robertson said. “We have double wide receivers and the safety moved over to fill the hole there. I just kind of went to the outside and turned on the jets.”

Falcons quarterback Michael Danchuk hooked up with burly receiver Lucas Kwiatkowski on a nine-yard scoring pass with 1:39 to go in the second quarter to round out St. Ignatius’ scoring.

The Tigers fought back in the second half, finally able to move the ball with some regularity up the Fort William Stadium turf.

Their best chance in the opening half came late in the first when the Tigers drove the ball to the St. Ignatius 14-yard line, only to lose six yards on third down and turn the ball over to their opponent.

Nevan Gowanlock finally broke the Falcons shutout bid midway through the fourth, scoring on a 12-yard run.

He added a second score with a minute-and-a-half left, this time an 11-yard burst up the middle.

The Tigers fell to 0-4 with the loss.

St. Patrick 42, Hammarskjold 20: Manerplaw Winning had touchdown runs of 53 and 19 yards and Kiran MacKenzie matched him with rushing scores of three and four yards to help the Saints remain undefeated at 4-0. Christian Laur, Lucas Hortis and Brandon Thibodeau had scoring runs for the Vikings, who slipped to 1-3.



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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