After last weekend’s loss to Kingston the Varsity Hawkeyes fell to an overall record of 2-4 and were once again massively out produced on the field. The final score was 37-8 in favour of Kingston with the Hawkeyes score coming when QB Harrison Quinlan hit the always-dependable Evan Rutherford for a touchdown pass. Rutherford has been one of the few bright spots on this Hawkeye team; he now leads the OVFL in receptions with 43 on the season. Once again the defence struggled to get any pressure on the QB or stop the run allowing the Grenadiers rushers to rush for 185 yards. As is expected from Coach T’s team, the special teams were solid for most of the game and have been all season. It has been a very frustrating year for this team as more often then not the score does not truly indicate how well they played. The Varsity Hawkeyes are a young team and still have two games left to prove how good they really can be. Up next are the Myers Riders who sit at 3-3 overall. I predict the Hawks come back strong and put their best effort forward to salvage the season.
This season has been very disappointing for the JV Hawkeyes who were trying to build upon their playoff appearance last season. They won their first game of the season convincingly and have lost 5 straight now, being embarrassed at times. Their worst game overall came last weekend losing to Kingston 58-6. The team looked lost at times and only got on the board when RB Mitch LaPlaunt broke off a 45 yard TD run. WR turned QB Garrett Arsenault was solid again throwing for 145 yards on just 12 completions. However, he and the rest of the offense sputtered through most of the game and couldn’t effectively move the ball on a regular basis. Defensively the Hawkeyes have struggled almost all season long. However, one should not blame the bad year on them, as it is hard to stay fresh when your offence fails to move the ball. Nonetheless allowing an average of 39 points a game is unacceptable. The coaching staff needs to take the advice of English songwriter Adele and “set fire to the rain” for this season. The sad truth is the Hawkeyes are not going to make the playoffs but they have a promising future with the core players they have. The Hawkeyes can afford to take these last two games and find out who still has the will to play hard when nothing is on the line. Hopefully going into these last two games the team puts up a fight and keeps the games respectable.
Its been a long season for both teams but its also been a good season for building character and there have been a handful of players that have stood out above the crowd. Expect both teams to finish the season as if they were undefeated and that is a tribute to their great coaching.
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