The Beefs picked up their fourth victory of the season with a 56-3 victory over the GTA Grizzlies. The score is impressive but there is still some work to be done to build this year’s edition of the Beefeaters into a team capable of contending for a championship.
The first quarter was scoreless and, actually, GTA went ahead very early in the second quarter on a 28-yard field goal by Gagan Bains of the Grizzlies. That was the end of the GTA scoring for the day. London responded two minutes later when quarterback Jake Pow hit receiver Spencer Foster for a 43-yard touchdown. John-Kurt Andreacchi’s first of seven converts made it 7-3 at that point.
Six minutes later GTA was forced to concede a safety, upping the score to 9-3. Two minutes after that safety, Danny Byrne crossed the goal line from 1-yard out to make it 16-3 with the conversion. A John-Kurt Andreacci 22-yard field goal and another safety made the half time score 21-3 for London.
Just under five minutes into the third frame, Danny Byrne scored his second touchdown on a 4-yard plunge. Four minutes later, Felix Noel drove in from 1-yard out to add another major. Going into the fourth quarter, the Beefs were up 35-3.
Just under six minutes into the final frame, Will Corcoran scooped up a GTA fumble and rambled 75 yards for a defensive touchdown. Four minutes later quarterback Clarke McCallum found Felix Noel open for a 27-yard major. The scoring ended four minutes later when Tazie Vang-Bell scampered in from 10 yards out to up the score for the Beefs to 56.
Overall the Beefs had a net offense of 408 yards and held the Grizzlies to a net offense of 4 yards when you deduct the team losses from the individual statistics.
Danny Byrne with 63 yards on 11 carries and Felix Noel with 62 yards on 9 carries led the Beefeater ground game that totaled 179 yards. Mitch Spence with 2 catches for 90 yards, Josh Waller with 4 catches for 55 yards and Spencer Foster with 2 receptions for 55 yards led the receivers. Overall, London passed for 274 yards.
Quarterback Jake Pow was 11 for 18 for 232 yards and 1 touchdown while Clarke McCallum was 3 for 6 for 42 yards and 1 touchdown as well.
On defense, Codey McRoberts had a good afternoon with 4 tackles, a quarterback sack, 2 forced fumbles and 3 knock downs. Twenty other Beefeaters racked up defensive points in the game.
One downside to this game was, once again, the number of penalties the team took. Tonight, it was 15 for 187 yards. Another negative was the seven sacks allowed. Still time to correct these issues and get ready for post-season play.