HAMILTON β Sunday was for the little tykes and Team West faced off against Team Central in the Ontario Prospect Challenge minor game, which saw Omari Martin of Team Central, Eric Lofthouse of Team Central and JD Shoniker of Team West named as the gameβs MVPs.

Omari Martin (#3) with Jeff Ferrell (left) and Barry Trench (right).
The overall MVP award was given to Martin, who sported #3 blue. The young running back was glad that his effort paid off. βItβs good. I just do hard work and practice, so I got offensive MVP so Iβm good,β he said. β[The highlight of the game was] my 60 yard touchdown.β

Eric Lofthouse (#19) with Jeff Ferrell (left) and Barry Trench (right).
Martin’s fellow running back, Lofthouse (#19), was named as the offensive player of the game. βI think itβs a great opportunity to be out on this field and to be playing here,β Lofthouse said.
Barry Trench, the head coach of Team Central, said that choosing Lofthouse as the MVP, βwas just hitting the nail on the head. No if, ands or buts.β
When asked about the highlight of the game, he didnβt pick one of his own plays. βI think when Omari Martin (#3, RB) made the 60 yard touchdown,β he said.
Jeff Ferrell, the head coach of Team West, was proud of both Martin and Lofthouse. βI thought both their players deserved it [the MVP awards]. They were really good athletes and performed really well.β

JD Shoniker (#99) with Jeff Ferrell (left) and Barry Trench (right).
While the game didnβt go the way Team West wanted, Shoniker (#99) was still excited to be named defensive MVP. The young defensive lineman said, βItβs pretty cool think to have. It was a tough game, we didnβt win, but we tried to play as a team. It didnβt work out for us, but it feels really good to win this award.β
For Shoniker, the highlight of the game was βprobably the tackle I got in the backfield around the second quarter.β
Ferrell felt that picking Shoniker was a good choice. βI thought the kid deserved it. He was right down in the grunt of the work. He was a solid player, stayed out there,β he said. βHe didnβt get beat up too much, so he did everything we asked and he didnβt complain. It was a good choice.β
He added that, βEverything was good. Weather and size were the only things that we didnβt have in our favour.β
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