OFC: JV Sturgeon pound Panthers to move to 2-0 on the season

This past weekend was the Sarnia Sturgeon’s home opener; they were successful with a 37-7 pounding of the Hamilton Panthers. The Sturgeon’s speed to the outside was the difference.

“We were aggressive right of the start,” says Sturgeon head coach Steve Belrose.

The Sturgeon forced a three and out on the Panthers first offensive possession. The Panthers offense was led by quarterback Cameron Wright. The Panthers ran the spread offense and looked to attack the Sturgeon with their passing game with frequent four and five wide receiver sets. Wright showed poise in the pocket all game but pressure from the Sturgeon defense forced Wright to get rid of the ball before he wanted too, which lead to four interceptions. Interceptions were made by: Marco Parete, Connor Sullivan, Nick Paquette, and Christian Fanset.

The Sturgeon offense followed with a touchdown on their first play. Quarterback Josh Elsley connected with Hayden McLean for a twenty four yard pass for a score. Blake Maxfield kicked the extra point.

On the Panthers second offensive possession the spread attack continued and they moved the ball with moderate success, despite a fourth and short conversion the Panthers were forced to punt once again.

The Sturgeon’s next offensive possession found them use an advantage that was clear and that was their speed to the edge, lead by Mitchell Smiley. Despite the Sturgeon’s speed advantage the strong defensive line play of the Panthers forced a punt. The Panthers then seemed to catch some momentum when they blocked the Sturgeon’s attempt to punt the ball away. The punt was blocked by Christian Dennis.

The Panthers with some momentum took the field on offense. Wright connected on a long passing play to Sam Berube; however, this play was called back on a holding penalty. Several plays later Wright’s pass was intercepted by Parete, this brought an end to the first quarter.

At the beginning of the second quarter Sarnia looked to use their speed and big play passes to move the ball down the field. The Sturgeon had a thirty yard touchdown pass called back because of a holding penalty of their own. The strong defensive line play once again kept the Panthers from allowing anything up the middle, however, the Sturgeon managed to score their second touchdown of the game on a fifteen yard touchdown run around the outside by Smiley.

The Panthers interception bug continued to haunt them for on their next possession the Sturgeon nabbed their second interception of the game. Wright’s pass was tipped and the pass landed in the arms of defensive tackle Sullivan.

The Panthers were not ready to give up just yet as they forced an interception of their own when Dillon Hilson picked off Elsley.

Once again the Panthers took the field to spread the ball out and attack the Sturgeon defense through the air but were stopped and forced to punt.

Both teams traded interceptions before halftime, with Tyler Noble of the Panthers intercepting a long pass attempt. The Sturgeon countered with their own interception as Paquette got one for his team as well.

Unfortunately just before half time an altercation took place between the two teams and this resulted in ejections from both sides. With a Panther coach and player being thrown out as well as a coach and a player from the Sturgeon. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed in the end and the second half ran without any similar incidents. Credit should be given to the remaining coaches on both teams for once the incident concluded they got their players settled down and ready to finish the game. The halftime score was 14-0 in favour of the Sturgeon.

The third quarter was when the Sturgeon began to take over the game with the speed advantage that they had; McLean sprinted for a one hundred four yard run on an option pitch received from Elsley. The Panthers, despite their best attempts, could not get any offense going in the third quarter and they were forced to give up a safety on their last offensive possession of the quarter.

The Sturgeon scored once again early in the fourth quarter when Sullivan plunged up the middle for a goal line score. This score was followed by a lengthy drive as the Sturgeon looked to melt the clock.

The Sturgeon’s last interception came at the hands of Fanset, getting his on the next offensive possession for the Panthers.

The Sturgeon would score their last points of the game as Elsley threw a forty nine yard touchdown pass to his favorite target Mclean; Elsley threw two touchdown passes on the day.

Despite it being a long day for the Panthers they never quit and fought hard and got their first offensive touchdown in their final drive of the game. Alex Howlett scored on a four yard scamper and Noble added the extra point. This drive saw many first downs and fine blocking up front from the Panthers offensive line.

The final score of the game was the Sturgeon 37 to the Panthers 7.

“We had big plays called back because of penalties, we need to correct those,” said Belrose. Despite being dominant in the speed department Belrose knows that big plays being called back because of mistakes are potential game altering.

“We regrouped and played well in the second half” he concludes. The Sturgeon outplayed the Panthers in the second half which allowed for them to pull away and get the win. The Sturgeon next takes the field Sunday June 9th as they will travel to Sudbury to take on the Gladiators.

Belrose’s final words were “we got to go to Sudbury and take care of business.”