Tigers tame Falcons

In a battle of unbeatens, something has to give.

On Thursday it was the St. Ignatius Falcons defence, which until the Westgate Tigers came calling, had not allowed a point in three games this season.

The Falcons kept the Tigers (4-0) off the score sheet for one quarter, but couldn’t withstand the punishing ground attack as the game wore on.

“It was fun to play a team that had the identical record as us. We know from previous years and from this that they had an awful lot of team speed. That was part of our game plan this week, to prepare ourselves best to handle their team speed,” said Tigers coach Pat Smykalski.

He wasn’t smiling in the first quarter, when the game plan appeared to fall apart in windy conditions. Forced to keep the ball on the ground, the Falcons Liam Fors broke through the line, found a gap and scampered down the left side of the Fort William Stadium field and went all the way for a score, a 100-yard dash that gave his team an early 7-0 lead.

Smykalski said it’s exactly what his junior Tigers were trying to prevent.

“We tried to keep the ball out of the hands of their speed guys, and I think we did a pretty good job of that. But as you can see, in the first quarter, the first time they had the run it was 100 yards. Interestingly enough for me, that was their big play. We said no more big plays for them and we stopped them for the rest of the game.”

St. Ignatius coach Mike Savioli, whose team fell to 3-1, was disappointed with the lopsided 23-8 loss, but said respect had to go out to the opposing team.

“Yeah, we hadn’t allowed a point yet this season, but we hadn’t played Westgate yet. Westgate is a team that is well coached and we need to make our adjustments in our defence and build from there,” Savioli said.

The Tigers ended the Falcons shutout string at 13 quarters when Cody Sheedy bounced his way into the end zone just 17 seconds into the second quarter, a 10-yard run up the middle.

Receiver Josh Whitehurst took the ball across the goal line for the two-point conversion, giving Westgate an 8-7 lead, an advantage they’d never relinquish.

Less than three minutes later Sheedy, who rushed for 118 yards on the day, was at it again, taking it home from 31 yards out.
The two-point conversion failed, and the Tigers went up by a converted touchdown.

St. Ignatius picked up a single point on a 51-yard punt through the end zone to cut the lead to six, but forced to punt on their next possession, the Falcons special teams allowed Whitehurst to pound through a hole, taking it 47 yards to the nine-yard line.
This time it was Kyle Trodd who barreled up the middle, his eight-yard carry making it 22-8 at the half.

The two teams played a scoreless second quarter, the only second half point coming late in the fourth on another punt through the end zone.

The Falcons were in scoring position in the third quarter, but on third-and-four, Justin Migliazza had his pass intercepted by Austyn Hayes, who took it 61 yards the other direction, ending the threat.