Perhaps, if not for a forgettable final minute of the opening half, the Sudbury U18 Jr Spartans might have knocked off the visiting Vaughan Rebels – or perhaps not. Either way, a pair of turnovers in the final 16 seconds means that we will never know as Vaughan went on to post a 27-12 victory.
With his team leading 12-10, QB Braedan Beggs tried to avoid a deep sack – only to see his shovel pass intercepted by Steve Fotso and returned some 40 yards for the major. When the ensuing kickoff was subsequently fumbled by the Jr Spartans, Vaughan proceeded to immediately kick the field goal as Olly Shankar nailed his second of the game, belting a three-pointer from 42 yards out a short while earlier.
Highlights for the Jr Spartans included a 115 yard return to the end zone from Quentin Harris on a missed field goal attempt and an eight yard touchdown pass from Beggs (14/33 for 202 yards) to Quin Mazzuchin (6 for 76 yards), the latter joined by Steven Sola (4 for 82 yards) at the top of the receiving board.
The Sudbury U16 Jr Spartans opened the triple-header action at James Jerome by jumping out to an 11-0 halftime lead and holding on for an 11-8 win, improving to 1-2 in the process.
Hayden Walsh recorded a touchdown reception, Colton Savage added a two point conversion and Colton Cooke split the uprights with a FG while Sudbury running back Evan Doyle broke out with 131 yards rushing on 14 carries in the win.
"My vision was really good; I was hitting those holes really hard," suggested Doyle, a grade 10 student at Confederation Secondary. "And I had a really big run (60 yards)."
For as much as the offense got things going in the opening 24 minutes of play, Doyle and his mates recognized that this victory was the result of an all-around team effort.
"The defense got us the ball back a lot; we really needed that," said Doyle. "We got some points on the board for them, killed some clock - but the defensive unit really stepped up."
Both Sudbury teams are back in action this coming weekend as the U18 Jr Spartans take on the Sault Sabercats at 1:00 p.m. with the U16 Jr Spartans battling the North Bay Bulldogs at 4:00 p.m.
