Windsor Fratmen 51 GTA Grizzlies 0

by Jim Parker
Windsor Star

A dominating win scored few points with Windsor AKO Fratmen head coach Mike LaChance.

The top-ranked Fratmen rolled into the Ontario Football Conference final with a 51-0 semifinal win over the Greater Toronto Area Grizzlies on Sunday at Alumni Field.

“A win is a win, especially in the playoffs, but we were far from polished offensively,” LaChance said. “We made too many mistakes, bad reads, poor throws and missed assignments. But, when you put up 51 points, it masks those mistakes.”

AKO had over 400 yards in net offence, built a 30-0 lead at the half and cruised to the victory against the fourth-seeded Grizzlies. AKO will now face the London Beefeaters, who upset Hamilton 17-8 in the other semifinal, in Saturday’s final. Game time at Alumni Field is 7 p.m.

“The bottom line is, if we want to win the OFC, we can no longer play like a young team on the rise,” LaChance said. “We need to show maturity and improvement and play a complete game. London won’t be as forgiving of our mistakes as we saw this week.”

Running back Nash Prieur had 114 yards rushing on seven carries and scored two touchdowns. Dante Lewis had a pair of touchdown receptions with Jojo Paintsil, Nathaniel Norton and Michael Ryan also pulling in touchdown passes.

Sam Richardson converted all seven scores and AKO recorded a safety to complete the scoring.

London Beefeaters 17 Hamilton Hurricanes 8

The Beefeaters met the Hamilton Hurricanes in Brantford in one of the OFC Semi-Final games on Saturday and, after a sluggish offensive start in the first half, came back to defeat the Canes 17-8. Hamilton had the only points in the first 30 minutes, hitting two field goals to go into the halftime up 6-0.

 

London earned 2 points on a safety in the third quarter on a bad snap by Hamilton on 3rd down near the Canes goal line.

 

Down 6-2 going into the final frame, the Beefs put up 15 points on two touchdowns and a rouge. Hamilton’s only points of the half came on a fourth quarter conceded safety. The Beefs’ first touchdown came on a 10- yard pass from quarterback Jake Pow to Daniel Jaffe (#81) at the 3:42 mark of the final frame. Leo Centeno (#80) converted and the Beefs were up 9-6.

A missed London field goal at the 10:39 mark of the final frame upped the score to 10-6. With 1:27 left in the game and the ball deep in the Beefeaters end of the field, the Beefs conceded a safety to make the score 10-8.

The defense, that had played well all game, held the Hurricanes on third down and the ball was turned over to the Beefs.

 

As time ran down, the Beefs moved deeper into the Hamilton side of the field. On a perfectly executed fake handoff to Tazie Vang-Bell that had the Hamilton defenders totally focused on him, quarterback Jake Pow (#10) scampered 15 yards into the endzone for the final score.

 

Leo Centeno converted again and the final score was 17-8 in a great defensive battle.

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Offensive Player
Daniel Mailloux, QB – Windsor Fratmen
In a battle for first place in the OFC and home field advantage throughout the playoffs, Daniel Mailloux led a second half comeback on the road against the defending OFC champs. Mailloux completed 23 of 41 passes for 351 yards and 2 touchdowns. Mailloux also carried the ball 5 times for 14 yards.

Defensive Player
Isaiah Joseph, DL – Hamilton Hurricanes
Despite the loss against the Windsor AKO Fratmen, Isaiah Joseph was a defensive force that limited the Fratmen rushing attack to only 59 yards. Joseph had 7 solo tackles and more importantly forced 3 fumbles all of which were recovered by his defensive teammates. Joseph also batted down 1 pass.

Special Teams Player
Harvey Mafuta, Kick Returner – GTA Grizzlies
In quite possibly one of the most impressive individual performances in CJFL history Harvey Mafuta literally did not come off the field as he spectacularly made plays in all three facets of the game. In a tight contest on the road Mafuta constantly put his team’s offense in good field position as he returned 5 punts (long of 54 yards), 2 kickoffs and 1 missed field goal for a total of 195 yards. While on defence, Mafuta contributed 7 tackles, 1 batted ball and returned 2 interceptions for 41 total yards. Mafuta also had 4 touches on offence for 26 yards.

Windsor Fratmen 28 London Beefeaters 13

The Beefs travelled down the 401 to meet their rivals, the Windsor Fratmen, and came up on the short end of a 28-13 score. Once again, penalties, whether deserved or not, and turnovers did the team in during a game that was crucial for playoff positioning. The Beefs were tagged with 16 penalties for 146 yards while the Frat had 5 penalties for 45 yards. As far as turnovers are concerned, the Beefs had 9 (five on downs) while Windsor had 4 (two on downs).

After a Beefeater turnover half way through the first quarter, the Frat drove from their own 30-yard line. A pass from quarterback Colton Allen to Joojo Paintsil put Windsor up 7-0 with the conversion by Sam Richardson , 8:10 into the contest. Less than 4 minutes later, Beefs’ quarterback Clarke McCallum found receiver Daniel Jaffe in the end zone for a major. John-Kurt Andreacchi’s convert tied the score. This touchdown was set up by a Tanner Gaskill-Cadwallader interception. The first quarter ended tied at 7.

The teams traded touchdowns in the second quarter with Windsor’s Michael Ryan catching a touchdown pass while the McCallum/Jaffe connection capitalized again. Unfortunately, for the first time this year, the extra point was no good as the kick was pushed wide by the wind. At the half, the Frat was up 14-13.

The third quarter was scoreless. Windsor, however, put 14 points on the board in the fourth quarter with touchdowns by Dante Lewis and Michael Ryan, with this second major, both converted by Richardson, to secure the victory and home field advantage over the Beefs on point differential.
The Beefs had a net offence of 402 yards compared to 340 yards for the Frat but, as mentioned above, the penalties and turnovers were damaging.
Danny Byrne led the rushing game with 84 yards on 8 carries while Josh Waller hauled in four passes for 63 yards to lead in reception yardage while Daniel Jaffe had six catches for 35 yards and 2 touchdowns. Clarke McCallum went all the way at quarterback, completing 19 of 37 attempts for 233 yards.

On defence, Tanner Gaskill-Cadwallader led the team in defensive points with 18. Mo Kadri, Kemarr Bishop and Willie Mboko were credited with 10 defensive points each.

Offensive Player
Ethan Belbeck, Quarterback – Hamilton Hurricanes
In crushing the Niagara Raiders, Ethan Belbeck used both his strong arm and quick feet to lead the Hamilton Hurricanes and keep them atop of the OFC standings. Belbeck efficiently completed 15 of 22 passes for 272 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also scampered for 2 touchdowns on the ground.

Defensive Player
Michael Worku, Defensive Back – Windsor AKO Fratmen
In a big road win on the road, Michael Worku established a no-fly zone in the Fratmen secondary. Worku intercepted two passes on the day returning one of those passes for a defensive touchdown. Worku also knocked down two passes as well as contributed 3 tackles.

Special Teams Player
Harvey Mafuta, Kick Returner- GTA Grizzlies
Despite the loss to the Fratmen, Harvey Mafuta turned in the most exciting play of the weekend when he returned a kickoff 109 yards for a touchdown. In all Mafuta returned 6 kicks for 205 yards for a 34.2 yard average. Adding to his stellar day Mafuta also contributed 4 receptions for 127 yards and a touchdown on offence.

London Beefeaters 65, Ottawa Sooners 3

Ottawa kicked off to begin the game and, following a 38-yard kick off return by Mitch Spence, the Beefs went to work. Four plays later, at 1:57 into the game, quarterback Jake Pow ambled into the end zone for a major that was converted by John-Kurt Andreacchi.

The Sooners, aided by a couple of penalties, managed to get the ball to the Beefeater 22-yard line but their drive stalled there and Derek Giacobbi came on to successfully kick a 29-yard field goal to put Ottawa on the board. Four minutes later, Andreacchi booted a 22-yard field goal to put the Beefs up 10-3 at the end of the first quarter.

Three minutes into the second frame, Joey Cortese took a Giacobbi punt and returned it 64 yards for another Beefeater touchdown. Andreacchi’s convert was good so the score moved to 17-3. Five minutes later quarterback Clarke McCallum connected with Tazie Vang-Bell and when the play was over, they had combined for an 87-yard catch and run touchdown. The convert made the score 24-3. Just as the first half was drawing to a close, Danny Byrne blasted in from 8 yards out for six more points and, for good measure, then caught a 2-point conversion pass from McCallum to make the half-time score 32-3.

Early in the third quarter Ottawa conceded a safety. Four minutes later McCallum connected with Spencer Foster for a 26-yard touchdown pass. With the conversion, the score rose to 41-3. Three minutes later, Vang-Bell darted 35 yards for another touchdown to raise the score to 48-3 with the conversion. Just before the end of the quarter, Byrne scored his second touchdown on a 5-yard burst. The conversion upped the score to 55-3 as we moved to the fourth quarter.

Another conceded safety by Ottawa added 2 more points to the Beefs’ total and half-way through the frame, running back Felix Noel bulled his way for a 17-yard rushing touchdown, carrying several Sooners with him as he was determined to find the end zone. The conversion made it 64-3 and the final point came on a rouge by punter Will Corcoran.

The Beefs’ defense held the Sooners to 31 rushing yards and 39 passing yards. When you factor in Team Losses, the net Ottawa offense was -18 yards. In contrast, the Beefs had 324 yards rushing and 316 yards passing with no team losses for a impressive net offense of 640 yards.
Danny Byrne led the ground game with 133 yards on 11 carries while Tazie Vang-Bell added 86 yards on 7 carries. Jake Pow, Felix Noel and Clarke McCallum accounted for the remainder of the rushing total.

In the air, Jake Pow was 4/8 for 76 yards while Clarke McCallum, who played the bulk of the game, was 10/20 for 240 yards and 2 touchdowns. Daniel Jaffe had 5 catches for 92 yards, Spencer Foster reeled in 4 passes for 51 yards and Tazie Vang-Bell had 1 reception for 87 yards. Mitch Spence, Connor DePodesta and Bailey Holmes also caught passes.

Defensive statistics were once again spread out as 28 Beefeaters recorded defensive points. Travis Clark, with a tackle and 2 interceptions, had 10 defensive points while Dylan Clarke with 1 tackle, 2 sacks and 1 knock down matched his total.

The only negative to the Beefeater game was, again, the number of penalties. This week it was 20 penalties for 215 yards compared to Ottawa’s 5 penalties for 39 yards. Against better competition, that penalty total would be disastrous.