St. Ignatius Falcons whip Hammarskjold Vikings 49-0 to earn berth in varsity football final

The St. Ignatius Falcons haven’t won a varsity football title in 16 years.

Thanks to Jake Puskas, who rushed for 125 yards and three scores in the first half on Tuesday night at Fort William Stadium, the school will have a chance to rein in its second title on Saturday, cruising to a 49-0 semifinal win over the Hammarskjold Vikings. They'll take on the St. Patrick Saints, who dropped the Sir Winston Churchill Trojans 28-24 in the other semifinal. 

Kyle Hughes was also a force for the first-place Falcons, scoring a pair of touchdowns, rushing for 92 yards on just seven carries.

Puskas, who drew the interest of at least one Canadian university scout in the crowd, said having a healthy team was a definite plus against the Vikings, a team that played the Falcons tightly in a pair of regular-season losses.

“We were pumping on all cylinders and definitely put it together, starting with the offensive line. That was the big difference for today,” Puskas said.

The veteran back didn’t wait long to make his mark, rumbling in from 27 yards out on the Falcons first possession.

He added a second major on St. Ignatius’ next trip down the field, this time scoring from 20 yards.

In fact the Vikings had a tough time stopping the Falcons offense at all.

All told St. Ignatius’ offence touched the ball eight times. Seven of those possessions resulted in touchdowns. On the other they had to settle for a rouge, the result of a missed Ryan Grandell second-quarter field goal try.

Puskas said he and his teammates are feeling the heat around the hallway to try to end the title drought.

“It’s definitely a lot of pressure. I know our coach feels the same way about that. We have our fingers crossed that we’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing and hopefully that will take us to the title,” Puskas said.

“We’re trying not to think about it, just focusing on the fundamentals of the game, blocking and tackling. The team that blocks and tackles the best comes out with the win.”

Falcons coach Tyler Dennis, whose team led 36-0 at the half, said having a full lineup showed the team’s full potential.

Having the final regular-season bye didn’t hurt.

“We got those guys rested and to be able to come out firing is what we wanted to do and we had a great game today,” Dennis said.

Unlike his star back, Dennis said there’s no pressure to win.

“Never,” he said.

“We’re just excited. We’re excited to be here. We came up short last year and we held that in as motivation for us to get to the final.”

The scoring came fast and furious for the Falcons in the second quarter, starting with a 29-yard strike from Justin Migliazza to Liam Fors.

Thomas Walser connected with Josh Newransky on a halfback option for their second score, then Puskas barrelled three yards untouched into the end zone for their third of the quarter.

With most of their starters on the bench, Hughes led the charge in the third, scoring the quarter’s only touchdown from four yards out, then sped in from 20 yards in the fourth to wrap up the 404-yard offensive attack.

St. Patrick 28, Churchill 24: Quarterback Joey Ward connected Cody Baranyk on a 10-yard scoring pass and then two minutes later ran in a three-yard score with 1:32 to play in the fourth quarter to lead the Saints into Saturday's final. Tallon Morris threw three touchdowns for the Trojans, including a pair to Brennan Tienhaara.