CISAA: St. Andrew’s College Saints 2012 Preview

The team is looking forward to another great year as one of the dominant teams in the CISAA division here in Ontario. The Saint’s motto is to “every year: win a CISAA championship”, and this year is no different.

Last season ended with an impressive winning season, headed by head coach Len Gurr. The Saints won the CISAA championship against their rivals Upper Canada College in a close 27-22 game which gave them the opportunity to play for the Metro-Bowl. The Saints went on to play the Donald A. Wilson Gators at the Rogers Centre to decide who would be Metro Bowl champions. Unfortunately, after a hard fought game, the Saints lost bringing their season to an end.

The team was led by wide receivers Jamal Kett and running back Yannick Harou during their 2011 season run. The two were written about on several occasions as being described as St. Andrew’s Most Valuable Players. The two have since graduated, but coach Gurr is confident that his roster for this season will be able to live up to “the tradition of excellence” at St. Andrew’s College.

The team will be led by captain offensive tackle Peter Godber, and returning players OT Brandon Benoit, and offensive guard Cody McMillan.

Players to look out for this season will be quarterback Chris Merchant, running back Jonathan Femi-Cole and new comer Zach Marcus on the offensive side of the ball. The three had a great showing during the Saints’ first exhibition game against the Banting Broncos, with QB Merchant throwing for one touchdown, and Femi-Cole and Marcus rushing for a couple of TDs themselves. On the defensive side, defensive end and team captain Ty Topolinkski had several tackles and a couple sacks to help the Saints’ to a 23-17 victory against the Broncos.

However, the game was not the Saints’ best game. Coach Gurr re-calls the exhibition game as a “sloppy performance”, but luckily for them, the Saints have lot of room to improve before their season opener on September 22^ndat home against the Ashbury Colts.