LONDON BEEFEATERS 7 SUNDAY OCTOBER 28 GORDIE HOWE BOWLThe clubs met for the first time on a frigid afternoon with a game time temperature of -4, but throw a nasty crosswind in and the windchill made it -14.
The Ontario champions had the ball to start, but 2 plays into the possession, Kyle Woldenburg-Puyda would fumble as Dylan Kemp forced the fumble & Brett Pisio pounced on the ball at the Beefs 44. As has been the case in the playoffs, when the Hilltops force a turnover, they cashed in as 1 play after a 35-yard run by Andre Lalonde; Tom Shockey barged in from a yard out to put the PFC champions up by a 7-0 count nearly 3 minutes into the game.
The Hilltops doubled their lead as they took the ball on an 8-play, 69-yard drive as Kyle McGinnis hauled in a 9-yard touchdown catch as Matt Karpinka got hammered by Jake Stiviletti just as he threw with 1:22 left in the period. Karpinka completed 11 of 20 for 152 yards and passed for a pair of touchdowns.
Eric Richards of London would intercept a Karpinka pass near the end of the quarter, but Beefs pivot Rob Lyons who struggled mightily all afternoon, completing just 5 of 16 for 32 yards, would be intercepted by Chris Friesen as he would go 30 yards for the touchdown which upped the Hilltop lead to 21-0.
It steadily went downhill for the Beefs as turnovers would cost them all day long. Taylor Rehn picked off a Lyons pass and scooted down to the London 22. From there, it took just 1 play for Saskatoon to capitalize as quarterback Jared Andreychuk ran a quarterback draw 22 yards for the touchdown that made it 28-0 Saskatoon just 2:40 into the second quarter. Donovan Dale forced a fumble on the ensuing London kickoff and Derek Sorenson would grab the ball.
Jared Andreychuk, who split time with Karpinka throughout the game, threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Lane Bannerman and at the 4:41 mark of the quarter; the Hilltops were in cruise control with a 35-0 lead with not even 20 minutes of playing time gone by.
A disastrous 2nd frame for the Ontario champions concluded as Andreychuk who only completed 4 passes found Chad Braun for a 16-yard score which completed a 3-play, 44-yard drive to make it 42-0 at halftime. The Saskatoon defense continued their smothering ways, holding London to only 48 yards of net offense in the half, while the Saskatoon offense racked up 280.
Zach Schmidt would be wide on a field goal try with the Beefs conceding a single to make it 43-0 4 minutes into the third. A quarterback switch for London would pay off late in the third quarter as Chuck Wall fired a 37-yard strike to Riley McMurray on a perfect fake field goal try, but that would be the lone bright spot offensively for London on the day. Wall completed 7 of 10 passes for 111 yards.
A second Schmidt field goal miss made it 44-7, then backup receiver Coleman Young took a Karpinka pass and travelled 36 yards for the touchdown that wrapped up the scoring with under 2 minutes to go and sends Saskatoon to Langley for a shot at their 3rd straight national title on November 10 as they play the BCFC champion Rams who ended the 6-year championship run of the Vancouver Island Raiders on Saturday afternoon as the Rams edged the Raiders 20-13 in the Cullen Cup Final.
LDN 0 0 7 0-7
SASK 14 28 1 8-51
1st QUARTER
SASK-TD Shockey 1 run (Schmidt Convert) 2:50
SASK-TD McGinnis 9 pass from Karpinka (Schmidt Convert) 13:38
2nd QUARTER
SASK-TD Friesen 30 INT return (Schmidt Convert) :34
SASK-TD Andreychuk 22 run (Schmidt Convert) 2:40
SASK-TD Bannerman 3 pass from Andreychuk (Schmidt Convert) 4:41
SASK-TD Braun 16 pass from Andreychuk (Schmidt Convert) 11:51
3RD QUARTER
SASK-SG Schmidt 45 1:24
LDN-TD McMurray 37 pass from Wall (Medeiros Convert) 13:41
4th QUARTER
SASK-SG Schmidt 44 4:25
SASK-TD Young 36 pass from Karpinka (Schmidt Convert) 13:05
LDN SASK
1ST DOWNS 9 27
YDS RUSH 75 256
YDS PASS 143 198
NET OFFENSE 202 438
PASSES C/A 12/26 15/33
INTS 2 1
FUMBLES/LOST 4/4 1/0
T.O.D 1 3
PUNTS 10/35.6 5/35.8
PENALTIES/YDS 15/82 9/65
PASSING C A YDS TD INT
Wall LDN 7 10 111 1 0
Lyons LDN 5 16 32 0 2
Karpinka SASK 11 20 152 2 1
Andreychuk SASK 4 13 46 2 0
RUSHING
C YDS TD
Ryan LDN 7 30 0
Woldenburg-Puyda LDN 10 25 0
Wall LDN 2 15 0
Clubine LDN 2 5 0
Ridley LDN 1 0 0
Lewis SASK 12 87 0
Lalonde SASK 8 86 0
Gryba SASK 4 50 0
Andreychuk SASK 1 22 1
Shockey SASK 2 11 1
RECEIVING C YDS TD
Woodman LDN 6 61 0
McMurray LDN 2 43 1
Ridley LDN 3 31 0
Kwon LDN 1 8 0
Young SASK 4 70 1
McGinnis SASK 4 55 1
Braun SASK 2 28 1
Turkington SASK 1 17 0
Gryba SASK 1 12 0
Trumpy SASK 1 9 0
Unruh SASK 1 4 0
Bannerman SASK 1 3 1
DEFENSIVE LEADERS:
Pedda LDN 4 Tackles, 2 Assists 10 DPTS
Dale SASK 4 Tackles, 3 Assists, 1 Fumble Recovery 13 DPTS
Sorenson SASK 1 Tackle, 3 Assists, 1 Special Teams Tackle, 1 Fumble Recovery 11 DPTS
Rehn SASK 2 Tackles, 1 Pass Knockdown, 1 INT-8 YDS 10 DPTS
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