The Lively Hawks expected to pick up a win in their Friday afternoon senior boys football encounter with the St Charles College Cardinals.

They just didn't expect it to be anywhere near this close.

The Hawks needed a single point on a 27 yard punt from kicker Cameron MacIntosh to register a 22-21 win over SCC as the Cards showed plenty of fight following a week one blowout loss to the Confederation Chargers.

It's unlikely that the eventual winners were necessarily all that concerned when St Charles opened the scoring with 4:36 to play in quarter one. A 35 yard field goal attempt from Alessandro Moretta had plenty of length but drifted right, his team earning a rouge on the play as the ball bounced out the back of the end zone.

On the final play of the quarter, Alex Campbell hauled in a three-yard touchdown pass from Lively pivot Ryder Villeneuve with the convert from MacIntosh making it 7-1 at that point.

The tides turned in quarter two as Cardinals running back Noah Arsenault began to string together some impressive runs in posting a game-rushing total somewhere north of 150 yards or so.

Throw in some timely completions from quarterback Nolan Larche, connecting with both Arsenault (67 yards) and wideout Moyo Olusola-Kuyet (33 yards) and St Charles found themselves in scoring position on a few different occasions.

The end result was a touchdown courtesy of Noah Arsenault (2 yard run) and a pair of 23 yard field goals from Alessandro Moretta, the Cards up 14-7 at the half.

The teams traded majors in quarter three, Lively pulling even on an eight-yard pass from Villeneuve to MacIntosh and St Charles countering with a six-yard TD run from Arsenault.

Lively evened the contest at 21-21 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter as running back Riley Kirwan was rewarded for carrying the load often in their affair, rambling home from the four and setting the stage for the late game heroics.

"They fought hard," said Kirwan after the game. "That was a close game; it could have gone either way. We just had the last touch of the ball."

Taking over possession around their own 45 with just over a minute to play, Lively completed a pair of passes to put themselves into position for a possible victory courtesy of uniquely Canadian rules.

"The coach came into the huddle and told Cameron to kick it was hard as he can, straight through the end zone - and he did it," recalled Kirwan.

Well, sort of.

The MacIntosh kick made it into the end zone but was angled towards the left sidelines, with the ball rolling out of bounds, in the end zone, allowing Lively to even their record at 1-1.

Trailing after 24 minutes of play, the Hawks added some tweaks to the second half game plan - and then adjusted again after Arsenault broke free for a pair of long first downs.

"We were throwing the ball a bit more in the first half," said Kirwan. "Coach decided that we should be marching the field and that's what we did. I trust my leads - we had good leads. I just follow the gap and that's where I go through."

Turns out that St Charles are not the only team who have found it difficult matching up with the Confederation Chargers.

For the second straight week, the Val Caron powerhouse forced the entire second half to be played straight time, building up a 42-0 advantage after two quarters of play and blanking the Lasalle Lancers 55-0.

For those keeping track, that puts the Confederation record at 2-0 - with a point differential of + 104 (Points For = 104; Points Against = 0 ... to be precise).

Kept off the scoresheet one week ago, running back Mason McLaughlin recorded three TDs, with running mate Evan Doyle adding a pair and Owen Blay, Tyson Vitali and Deegan Kingsley chipping in with one each.

Kicker Domadius Aziz made good on seven of his eight point after attempts as Confederation prepares for what should be a much stiffer test this coming Friday in the form of the four-time defending city champion Lo-Ellen Park Knights.

After looking good but not great in beating Lasalle 28-0 in week one, the Knights proved they remain a force to be reckoned with, jumping out to a 19-7 lead at the half in the Friday nightcap before putting away the St Benedict Bears by a final score of 33-14.

The bulk of the damage was done in quarter two as Kaden Richer recorded a "pick-six", returning an interception 40 yards and QB Noah Parsons found Mishal Olanrewaju on the receiving end of a 30 yard pass, those touchdowns supplemented by a safety touch (2 pts) and a 15 yard field goal from Luca Cucullo.

Keegan Adair crossed the goal line on the final play of the first half to provide St Ben's with a little hope but Lo-Ellen took that away in quarter three as Quin Mazzuchin notched his first six of the final 14 points for his team, hauling in a 15 yard pass from Parsons.

A 77 yard pass from Evan DeMarchi to Holden Beange (St Benedict) was offset by one final receiving TD for Mazzuchin (12 yards), closing off the scoring as the Bears now prepare to face St Charles Friday night (Sept 26th) at 7:30 p.m.