CISAA: St. Michael’s Move Into Second Place After Close Win Over UCC

The St. Michael’s College Kerry Blues beat the Upper Canada College Blues last Saturday, 27-20.

Although UCC led the scoring for most of the game, SMC were always quick to answer. As two UCC touchdowns were called back, SMC were able to take advantage of UCC’s mistakes and eventually take the lead that would win them the game.

The first half featured excellent offensive plays and defensive stops by both teams. UCC’s no. 10 Manny Gomez, no. 33 Pelle Jorgen and no. 84 Marc-Andre Alexandre led the offense with quarterback Liam Power at the helm. The first score took three attempts as penalties called back the opening touchdown. It was finally Pelle Jorgen who ran in the ball at the 13 minute mark in the second quarter. UCC was able to get the ball back after a sack by no. 9 Matt Soper. The Blues had a chance to go up two touchdowns, thanks to a great catch by Marc-Andre Alexandre; however, it too was called back because of offensive penalties.

St. Michael’s offense was led by the running back phenomenon no. 33 Simon Chang and quarterback no. 12 Calvin Vaughn. Their first touchdown came with only two minutes left in the half. With a 7-7 score, UCC got the last possession of the half and it was no. 84 Alexandre who got another TD reception with only 18 seconds remaining.

The third quarter starred the SMC and UCC defenses. UCC’s Matt Soper made a couple important sacks to keep SMC in mid-field. UCC was able to capitalize with another touchdown reception by no. 84 Alexandre with 19 seconds left in the third to go up 20-10.
The fourth quarter once again featured Simon Chang as he was given the ball on almost every play. Other contributors to the SMC offense included receiver no. 8 Kevin Collins, no. 82 Matt Crocker and no. 88 Alex Zulys.  A trick play during a punt return gave SMC a huge yard gain and it led to another Simon Chang touchdown early in the fourth to get within three points. SMC began taking advantage of UCC penalties and started moving the ball up the field. QB Calvin Vaughn began flexing his arm muscles by completing several passes including the drive ending touchdown reception putting SMC up 20-24. SMC was able to score one more field goal with 1:14 left. UCC had one last chance with 18 seconds remaining to get a scoring touchdown, but were unable to move out of their own zone and the game came to an end.
The turbulent game put SMC in second place, pushing down UCC into third place in the CISAA standings. SMC will have a tough game this Saturday when they play first place St. Andrew’s College at St. Andrew’s at 2:30PM. “It is a fantastic long standing rivalry”, says St. Andrew’s head coach Len Gurr. “Both teams always play in the finals or semi-finals and we know each other very well”.  Although both teams have already cemented their playoff spot, expect a close scoring game as both teams have some of the best defensive and offensive players in the league.
UCC will be playing the Ashbury Colts at Ashbury at 11:00AM this Saturday. Ashbury is currently sitting in the final playoff spot, and has the same 2-2 record as UCC. This game will separate the two into the third and fourth place spots to help form the playoff matches. UCC will probably have the advantage in this game, as Ashbury has had a hard time against the tougher teams in the CISAA league. However, they have the ability to pull off an upset if given the opportunity.

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