Ontario Regional Junior Championship: Wilson defeats Centennial 3rd year in a row

Ontario Regional Junior Football Championship
Quarter-Finals
Result: Friday, November 18th
Wilson 21, Centennial 10
For the third consecutive year, the Gators met Belleville Centennial in Ontario Regional Junior Football quarter-final play and this year proved to be their stiffest test. The Gators had won easily 43-0 in 2009 and followed that up with a 35-7 triumph as they pulled away with 26 unanswered points in the second half. This year, however, the Gators coaching staff anticipated a much tighter game as the Chargers had dominated the Crestwood Mustangs 50-14 in the COSSA championship.

Gator quarterback, John Stewart, would open the scoring halfway through the opening quarter as he called his own number on a one yard keeper. Malcolm Branton’s point after was good and the Gators held a 7-0 lead. Centennial, however, evened the score at 7 as Hayden Deacon reached the house in the opening minute of the second quarter with a one yard carry, which was converted by Jonah Murant. Andrew Smith unleashed a 17 yard touchdown run with just under three minutes remaining to the half and the Gators successfully went for the two point convert (John Stewart). Smith then saved a potential Charger touchdown on the final play of the half when an errant pass into the flat was picked off by a Charger defender. Smith immediately tackled the Centennial player who appeared to have nothing but daylight between himself and the end zone. Earlier in the quarter, another Centennial interception, this time by Jonah Murant, resulted in a 57 yard return to the house only to be negated by a penalty call. The Chargers were also victimized by several dropped passes in the opening half.
The Chargers enjoyed significant field advantage in the third quarter, however they were only able to generate three points on a 57 yard punt single by Murant and a two point safety (credited to Murant) when Stewart elected to take a knee in the end zone. Another Charger drive was ended with a costly fumble. Trailing 15-10, the Chargers continued to go toe to toe with the Gators and with less than three minutes remaining found themselves moving the ball in Wilson territory. Gator defender, Harry Macey, ended the drive with an interception and a solid return of forty yards to give the Gators possession inside the Centennial 25 yard line. The Gators then drove the ball to the house with Smith ending the march with an eight yard touchdown with a solitary tick left on the clock.
The Gators now advance to the semi-finals at St. Michaels College on Saturday, November 26th.
LOSSA’s second entry in this championship (sometimes referred to as the Junior Metro Bowl) will take to the field in quarter-final play on Tuesday, November 22nd as they travel to Burlington to play the Halton Region Champions (Assumption Collegiate).
Two other quarter-final games will also be played on Tuesday as the Brantford champion, Assumption, will travel to the Niagara region (Grimsby) to play Blessed Trinity while the Halton finalist (ironically also known as the Holy Trinity Titans) will play the CISAA representative (St. Michaels College) in Toronto.

Metro Bowl
Update
The Metro Bowl semi-finals will be contested on Thursday, November 24th at Ester Shiner Stadium in North York.
Donald A. Wilson will be playing the City of Toronto champions, Northern Red Knights, in the second half of the doubleheader. The first game, which will start at 12:00 noon, will feature King City, the 2010 Metro Bowl Finalist, playing against the CISAA champions (St. Andrews College).
Northern held off a late rally by Agincourt Collegiate to advance with a 14-11 win. King City staged a fourth quarter come from behind victory to prevail 10-9 over Huron Heights in the York Region championship. St. Andrews College rallied with less than a minute remaining to dethrone Upper Canada College 27-22.
The Gators qualified when they scored two fourth quarter touchdowns to overcome a three point deficit to the Holy Trinity Titans, last year’s Metro Bowl champions, winning 18-7.