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Get out
the brooms. For only the second time in their young
franchise history the Sarnia Sturgeon's 3 teams all
won their games on the road in a tripleheader The
games were played against their Southwestern Ontario
rivals, the Chatham-Kent Cougars, in Chatham on
Sunday.
Tim Purdy led his top ranked and undefeated PeeWees
into Chatham for the curtain raiser. The Sturgeon
scored early and often, building up a commanding
lead and coasting to a 38-7 victory. Scoring
touchdowns for the Sturgeon were Jamie Campbell,
Keyshaun Jordan and Bennett Vani.
The Bantam Sturgeon were up next. Last week the
Bantams lost a heart breaking game against the first
place and undefeated Forest City Thunderbirds. In
that game the Sturgeon squandered a 10 point lead in
the fourth quarter. They travelled to Chatham with
only 22 players dressed to play. Blake Maxfield
opened the scoring on the Sturgeon second possession
with a 2 yard quarterback sneak. His convert put
Sarnia up 7-0, a score that remained throughout the
first quarter. In the second quarter a Jared Lippiat
fumble recovery and the resulting Sturgeon drive
culminated in another short run by Maxfield. His
second successful convert pit the visitors up 14-0.
A key interception by Devin Dabanovich at the
Sturgeon 5 yard line halted a menacing Cougar drive
near the end of the first half. Three plays later a
62 yard pass and run from Maxfield to Matteo Tesone
increased the lead to 21-0.
The
shocked Cougars used half time to regroup. Chatham
came out with a vengeance after the break, scoring
two quick touchdowns to close the lead to 21-14.
Matthew Simic's fumble recovery halted the Cougar
game tying drive. After this key turnover, he
Sturgeon regained their momentum with a 28 yard
touchdown run by Nic Paquette. The third quarter
ended with the score 28-14. Paquette scored the only
major in the final quarter as the Sturgeon upset the
Cougars 35-14. Paquette was a workhorse all game
long carrying the ball 24 times for 184 yards.
Maxfield ran 15 times for72 yards and completed 4 of
8 passes for 110 yards. Backup fullback Greg
Richards gained 25 yards on 5 tough carries. On
defense the leading tacklers were Josh Kita, Josh
Snow, Easton Klaudi and Devin Dabanovich.
In the nightcap the 2-1 Sturgeon JV's tackled the
desperate 0-3 Cougars. The game was only 3 minutes
old when Hayden MacLean opened the score for the
Sturgeon on a 7 yard scamper. Jordan Huzevka's
convert increased the lead to 7-0. Chatham tied the
game just before the end of the first quarter on an
81 yard pass and run play and the resulting
successful convert. The Sturgeon struck for 2
touchdowns in 90 seconds at the beginning of the
second quarter. The first was on a 4 yard run by
Nathan McIntyre and the second on a 2 yard plunge by
MacLean. This touchdown was a result of a fumble
recovery by Riley Taylor on the Cougar 4 yard line
on Chatham's second play from scrimmage following
MacIntyre's major. The Cougars did not give up after
these scores, and battled hard, tieing the game at
21. Two key defensive plays by defensive back Thanh
Lao turned the game in favour of the Sturgeon. Lau
first intercepted a Cougar pass on the Sturgeon 5
yard line in the last minute of the half as the
Cougars were driving to take the lead.
On the
opening kick off of the second half, Lau recovered a
Cougar fumble. The Sturgeon then drove for a
touchdown by MacIntyre, his second of 3 majors for
him in the game. This put the Sturgeon ahead for
good. Other scoring plays for Sarnia were an 11 yard
pass to Brad Churchill by Josh Elsley and a 101 yard
run by the speedy Mitchell Smiley. The Cougars self
destructed in the final quarter, taking many
unsportsmanlike conduct penalties after the whistle.
These penalties ended any hopes they might have had
for a comeback and sealed their fate. The final
score was 48-30 in favour of the Sturgeon. Jordan
Huzevka converted on 6 of the 7 Sturgeon touchdowns.
Mitchell Smiley had 13 carries for 203 yards,
MacLean 15 carries for 120 yards and Josh Elsley ran
the ball 7 times for 46 yards. He also completed 6
of 10 passes for 94 yards. Peter Fais, Ramon
Bastillo, Riley Green and Jake Brimmer were
standouts on defense.
All three teams are in action this weekend with both
the PeeWees and Bantams travelling to London and the
JV's hosting London at Norm Perry Park Sunday at
noon.
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@sarniasports.
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