OVFL: Essex Ravens humble the JV Hamilton Ironmen

After a spectacular start to their season, which saw them pummel the Halton Cowboys 50-0 in the opener, the Hamilton Junior Ironmen were brought back down to earth Saturday afternoon in Essex County, falling to the Ravens 34-18.

“Our defense had a very difficult first half,” said Ironmen head coach Ken McGuire, “they came on in the second half, but that’s something we’ll need to work on, playing harder from the beginning of the game.”

Wide receiver Stefan Olivieri scored two touchdowns for the Ironmen, while fellow wideout Marc Fournier had another good outing, hauling in a touchdown catch along with several others that went for big yardage.

As was expected, the Ravens’ strong running game proved to be a big factor.

Ravens running back Marcus Kenter (22) escapes defenders as Hamilton’s Reilly Ashford (52) hunts him down.

“We couldn’t stop them from eating the clock with their running game,” McGuire declared, “They were just too much. We also gave up a fumble and an interception which really hurt us.”

Ironmen running back Brandan Gamble (12) finds some daylight on Saturday afternoon.

While Ironmen running back Brandan Gamble played a strong game, breaking several key runs, the Ironmen, who rely heavily on quarterback Liam Putt’s strong arm, had a hard time getting their passing game going, despite the three touchdowns. The breezy afternoon in Essex demonstrated to make throwing the ball very difficult.

“The wind was definitely a factor today,” McGuire remarked, “Overall I thought that Liam played a good game. The wind made it harder on him.”

Some unfamiliarity with the Ravens might have also been to blame. The JV Ravens are a very different team than they were the last time the two teams met.

“It has been a while since we’ve been to Essex and it’s always a tough game when we do visit,” stated McGuire, “the teams in this league at the junior varsity level are all very competitive, we just didn’t match that level of competitiveness.”

While McGuire was obviously disappointed in the result, especially after his team played a near perfect game in week one, he remains ever the optimist and decides to use this loss as a lesson moving forward.

“Well this game’s in the books, so it’s behind us now,” he noted, “we’re going to go back to practice, maybe change a few things and get ready for next week.”

Week #3 will see the Hamilton Ironmen hosting the Brampton Bulldogs Sunday June 10th at Ivor Wynne Stadium. Game time is scheduled for 1:00pm.

Despite the slow start and the gusty conditions, Coach McGuire thought that as a whole, his team played a decent game. The only problem is, that according to the coach, decent just doesn’t make the cut in this league.