Rory McConnell is a wide receiver by trade, but on Friday night, the veteran Sir Winston Churchill Trojan showed he knows a thing or two about quarterbacking.
With starting pivot Jared White sidelined with an ankle injury – though ready to go if necessary – and the playoffs looming, Churchill coach Mike Doromko wasn’t taking any chances.
McConnell proved Doromko had nothing to worry about, connecting on 11 of 17 passes for 149 yards and a score, bettering even his own modest hopes in Churchill’s regular-season-ending 33-7 win over the now eliminated St. Ignatius Falcons.
“Considering it was my first game at quarterback, it was a lot harder than I expected. I did play quarterback awhile back, but Jared makes it look a lot easier than it is,” McConnell said.
“I like playing wide receiver, that’s what I’m used to, so I like staying out there. It was a lot better than I thought though. I’m glad we got the win. That’s all we need and we just have to keep it rolling and hopefully we’ll be seeing St. Pat’s soon enough.”
The Trojans finished as the No. 2 seed in the senior high school circuit, and McConnell said he thinks the team is peaking as it gets set to prepare for a date with the Fighting Saints in semifinal play next Friday, again at Fort William Stadium.
“We started off really slow this year, but we’ve definitely got it going since then and I’m glad we have,” said McConnell, who’s Trojans enter the postseason on a five-game winning streak.
It’s a great way to finish a solid regular season, said Doromko, giving the Falcons, who finished 1-6 and last in the league, full credit for a valiant effort.
“They were scrappy. They came out hard in that first quarter, and that’s good on them,” he said. “They wanted to play and we wanted an opponent. We wanted someone to come out and test us. We had a lot of things we wanted to do.
“We ran the ball effectively today, which is one of our goals.”
He couldn’t say enough about McConnell’s performance, with limited time to adjust to his temporary new position.
“I’ve been waiting 11 years for a quarterback who can throw, and I’ve got two on the same team. You’ve got to be kidding me,” Doromko said, finding humour in the situation.
“He did a good job. He’s only had four practices to get things rolling. The bonus for him is that he’s been part of the offense for the whole season, so it wasn’t that much of a learning process for him. Skill-wise he had to figure out what to do at a new position, and Jared does make it look a lot easier that it is.”
The two teams stayed scoreless for most of the opening quarter, before Churchill’s Chris Dunbar plowed his way through for a six-yard score.
McConnell connected with Julian Schulz on a 10-yard major to make it 15-0 midway through the second, with Eh Gae Moo adding a 42-yard field goal to make it 18-0 at the half.
Alex Abbey scored from a yard out early in the third, with the Falcons finally getting on the board late in the quarter, with converted offensive tackle Billy McElroy barrelling through on his second try from one yard shy of the goal line.
Devyn Chenier added an insurance touchdown on a two-yard sweep.
In other senior boys action Friday:
Hammarskjold 34, Superior Collegiate 24: The Vikings got a pair of rushing touchdowns from Xander Hasell , wiping out a three-touchdown performance from Superior’s Travis Gavin to claim the fourth and final playoff berth. They’ll square off against Westgate next Friday.
