The Braves didn’t give up, Alex McFarlane finished off his phenomenal personal effort with an incredible 79-yard sideline run, to put the Braves in position for one last touchdown from inside the ten yard line, with less than one second left in time. Quarterback Mack Blewett connected with Jason Diston for the second time, in the end zone for the score and scrambled for the two point convert with no time left.
“A loss is always disappointing but this was a new low, it was the first game that we did not make enough plays on offense to win.” said head coach Mike Samples. “Fumbled snaps and the fumbled punt return in the end zone did us in. We controlled the St Leonard passing game and did better than most teams but we have to maximize our efforts and focus on all phases of the game to win. We’ll need to improve attendance at practice to help the mental mistakes and turnovers.”
St Leonard took the first quarter to work out the cramps from the long bus ride down the 401. Their defensive effort was tremendous with two batted balls and a forced fumble as well as a fumble recovery in the end zone off a bobbled punt reception. Cougar pass coverage made it difficult for the receiving cadre to catch Blewett’s passes. With the passing coverage, Alex McFarlane did yeoman’s service on the ground, with eight carries for 42 yards and two completions for another 23 including a spectacular one-handed catch. He added another 100 yards on punt returns. On two key Braves plays in the fourth quarter Wilguens Dériveaux and Jessy Ross-Thompson sacked Blewett. For Dériveaux it was his second in addition to four tackles. Cedric Legros forced a fumble in addition to his five tackles.
The Braves defence had some big plays of their own, Ian Marouf and Tevin Missen had a sack each and Devon Miller blocked the Cougars’ first-quarter field-goal attempt. Tevin Missen led the defence with four tackles and a sack, Ian Marouf and Jon West had a sack each, Cory Pattison had three tackles and an interception, Jamie Dionne added five tackles, with Shane Smiley, Steve Connery and David Shuta adding four more each. Joel Chapman and Doug Dillon each picked up a fumble recovery.
Blewett completed ten passes in 25 attempts for 196 yards with four interceptions. He scrambled for 30 yards as well. Diston was the favoured receiver with four catches. Kicker Mark DeVito was good on two converts and a field goal.
The Braves now at 2-3, fall to sixth place and travel to Windsor to face the third place, 3-2, defending OFC champions AKO Fratmen. The game will be streamed live on the OFC website, ofcfootball.com next Saturday afternoon. Kick off is at 3pm.
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