SHERBROOKE (CFL.ca wire) — Ontario guaranteed themselves a berth in the championship game of the Canada Football Cup yesterday afternoon by defeating Quebec 20-16. The loss relegated Quebec, the defending U-19 champions, to contending for the bronze medal.
Saturday’s game took place at Bishop’s University’s Coulter Field and was marked by a number of big plays and shifts in momentum.
Ontario got on the scoreboard first thanks to a 24-yard field goal by kicker Derek Williams. Williams also kicked another 24-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter to clinch the win for Ontario.
Quebec scored on the very next play as Francois Leclerc returned the kick-off 96 yards for a touchdown. Running back Rotrand Sene added to the lead, made the score 14-3 with a 37-yard touchdown catch-and-run.
Quebec would struggle from that point onwards, however, managing only a safety for the rest of the game.
James Protonentis got Ontario back into the game early in the second half when he returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown.
Ontario’s other touchdown came only two plays later when Marco Isakov connected with Aaron Moore for a 30 yard touchdown pass.
Quebec got a brief boost later in the quarter after sacking the Ontario quarterback on third-down but offensive penalties prevented the home team from gaining any offensive momentum.
“That was the story of the game; our lack of discipline killed us. There was no excuse for it,” said Quebec quarterback Alexandre Nadeau-Piuze who plays for the Cegep Andre Grasset Pheonix.
“We were playing for a berth in the championship game but we lost because of a lack of discipline and bad judgment,” said Quebec head coach Marc Loranger. “We had a chance to win the gold medal; now we have to focus on winning the bronze. I hope the team learned from it’s mistakes and won’t commit the same type of errors in our next game.” Loranger was also the Head Coach of Team Quebec last year in Winnipeg when he led the team to the gold medal.
“We struggled in the first half but we came out and played hard in the second half,” said Ontario head coach Rob DiMaria. “We didn’t give up and we made the necessary adjustments. Four years ago we were down by 24 points and came back to win so we’ve been in these situations before and we know what it takes to win. We knew coming into this game that Quebec was a very talented team, a very fast team and a very well coached team. They beat us pretty easily last year so it was important for our players to know that this game was winnable.”
Ontario will play in the gold medal game next Saturday while Quebec’s next game is scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday evening at the University of Sherbrooke.
Running back Ryan Rowe and defensive lineman Daniel Wickens were named the most outstanding players for Ontario while running back Rotrand Sene of Vieux Montreal and defensive lineman Rene Suppiger of F.X. Garneau were named the top players for Quebec.
Scoring Summary:
1st 11:36 Ontario – Williams D 34 yd field goal
Ontario 3 – Quebec 0
11:53 Quebec – Leclerc F 96 yd kickoff return (Gelinas M kick)
Ontario 3 – Quebec 7
2nd 10:28 Quebec – Sene R 34 yd run (Gelinas M kick)
Ontario 3 – Quebec 14
11:12 Quebec – Team safety
Ontario 3 – Quebec 16
3rd 03:29 Ontario – Protonentis J 40 yd interception return (Williams D kick)
Ontario 10 – Quebec 16
03:46 Ontario – Moore A 30 yd pass from Isakov M (Williams D kick)
Ontario 17 – Quebec 16
4th 06:57 Ontario – Williams D 21 yd field goal
Ontario 20 – Quebec 16
Players of the Game:
Ontario
Offensive: Ryan Rowe
Defensive: Daniel Wickens
Quebec
Offensive: Rotrand Sené
Defensive: René Suppiger
