If there was any doubt the St. Patrick Fighting Saints were going to advance to the junior high school football semifinals, they erased it in a in a seven-minute second quarter span.
The Saints scored four majors on three offensive plays and a kickoff return on Thursday, and went on to annihilate and eliminate the winless Superior Collegiate Gryphons 54-18 at Fort William Stadium in the first of two quarterfinal games.
St. Patrick coach Dave Bettistel said his troops were finally able to execute the big play they’ve been looking for all season long – several, in fact.
It started with Jake McKee, who ran 91 yards untouched to put the Saints up 14-0 three minutes into the lopsided affair.
Twenty-seven seconds into the second quarter it was Drew Meady’s turn. The versatile back combined with QB Mike Dychko on a 46-yard score. Then, after Wyatt Maunula ran back a 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to put the Gryphons on the board, Meady returned the favour, racing the ensuing kickoff 80 yards to put the Saints up 28-6.
“Our offense a lot of times is a ground game. We tend to go five yards, 10 yards. Today we got the big play going. We got the big play to McKee for the touchdown, we had the big play to Meady for his first touchdown on the pass, and then he had a great return for touchdown,” Bettistel said.
“We were clicking on all gears, which is what we wanted.”
Responding after Maunula’s first score – he had three on the day, including a pair of rushing majors – was key to holding the momentum, the Saints coach added.
“Drew had one hell of a game. He came out there and played hard. That’s what we’ve been looking for from him all year. We’ve been waiting for him to break one of those kickoffs for a touchdown.”
Beating a team that finished 0-6, including Thursday’s loss is one thing. Beating the heavily favoured Falcons next week is an entirely different ask.
“We know St. Ignatius is a good team. They’re going to be tough to beat. I know we’re sort of gunning for them. We lost 34-0 in the season opener and we’re looking for hopefully a bit of revenge and to give them a good run for their money,” Bettistel said.
Liam Coulter, with his second score of the day, and Jake McKee added TDs on the ground before halftime, the Saints taking a 45-12 lead into the second half.
Coulter finished with 92 yards on the ground, second to McKee's 101.
Tom Veneruz, on a three-yard plunge, notched the only St. Patrick touchdown of the second half. Wyatt Maunula wrapped up the scoring in the fourth, streaking 62 yards to the end zone to complete a solid individual effort on the day.
Still, he looked only at the positive.
“I think we did a good job,” said Maunula, the only Gryphon to score a touchdown in 2011. “We lose every game, but we play hard.”
In the other junior boys quarterfinal:
Churchill 13, Hammarskjold 9: The Trojans needed third-quarter touchdowns from Allan Chen and Kyle Levesque, who scored from four yards and 40 yards out respectively, to overcome the Vikings and advance to play Westgate next Thursday. Keenan Postans had a one-yard run for the Vikings only major.
