However, the team knows all other teams will be just as quick on the field come showtime at the national tournament. Once the fifth seeded team takes its first snap of the tournament in their game against the fourth ranked Team Saskatchewan on Sunday July 15th, 2012 at 4:00pn EST, they will get their first chance to see how they stack up against the competition.
“I think we have great team speed,” explains Team Ontario East’s head coach John Engel. “When I break down the team position by position, I see speed being one of the top two strengths for each unit.”
“It will be interesting to see how it compares to the rest of the teams in the tournament.”
The offensive unit of Team Ontario East will be anchored by the quarterback tandem of George Papadakos and Kaleb Scott. Both quarterbacks are versatile and complement each other quite well by bringing different game execution styles to the table.
“Kaleb is the more athletic of the two as he runs a triple option offense at his high school but also showed an ability to make some big time throws out of the pocket at the scrimmage in May,” adds Engel. “George is a coach’s son and he plays that way as he is like having another offensive coordinator out on the field.”
“Coupled with his ability to make a variety of different throws, he will be able to give us great consistency in the pass game.”
Team Ontario East boasts some huge receivers as well quick tailbacks.
“The receivers are BIG as we have three 6’2 plus guys with big frames that are extremely athletic,” assesses the Team Ontario East head coach. “Our tailbacks are extremely fast and very good runners.”
There are several players on the unit that will be expected to lead the squad on the field.
“Alex Zulys is our top receiver and is tall with good quickness, athletic ability and has exceptional ball skills,” assesses Engel. “We have two exceptional tailbacks in Simon Chang and Andrew Smith-Andrew has very good power and speed and runs very well between the tackles. whereas Simon is more of an open field runner who can threaten the edges of the defense.”
“We have a great talent at our offensive tackle positions as Thomas Rowlands and Tyler Young have great athleticism for guys their size.”
Ultimately, these players will be looked upon to successfully complete Team Ontario East’s offensive game execution plans.
“I think you will see more of a passing attack than a run game” says Engel of the offensive game plan. “We are going to use the short passing game to be an extension of our run game and we’re going to put our athletes in open space.”
“Our run game will be zone running to make good use of our speed on the offensive line and the running style of our tailbacks.”
As for the defensive unit, Team Ontario East will be a strong force. Therefore, opposing offenses will have a hard time trying to get past the iron wall.
“On Defense, we have good size on the defensive line,” assesses Engel. “I think this will allow us to be stout against the run.”
“We have exceptional speed at the linebacker position and a smart core of defensive backs.”
“On defense, Victor Olagbaiye is our best defensive back as he has tremendous skills in coverage and already has a very good knack for playing zone schemes,” adds the Team Ontario East head coach. “Ryan Gallagher may be our best defensive player; he will be playing linebacker at the tournament and he plays at a very high level and is extremely physical but can also help in the pass game due to his speed.”
“On the defensive line, Rashayne Nelson from will turn some heads because he has a HUGE frame but remains quick off of the ball despite his size.”
The game plan of Team Ontario’s East’s defensive line is pretty simple: be consistent yet smart on the field.
“I think defensively we will be smart and fast,” says Engel. “I think that we don’t have to impose our will over anyone, we just need to eliminate the big play.”
“Again, I think our best weapon is to be consistent and have everyone doing their job and their job only.”
There are two players that could potentially be great surprises for the squad during the tournament: Pelle Jorgen and Malcolm Carter. Both of these players could potentially have huge games and become stars of the Football Canada Cup.
“Pelle can do so many things and is such a skilled and smart football player that we have no choice but to showcase him in a variety of different ways in the offense,” explains Engel. “The “tweener” can play effectively out of the backfield and at the receiver position.”
“Malcolm has the physical attributes to be dominant but is still very young and coming out of his shell as a football player. At 6’6 200+lbs, he has unbelievable athleticism and speed. If we can get him playing at a high level, look for him to be a tournament all-star at his position.”
While the team does look strong, there are a couple of areas that they are weak in and could be a shortcoming once they take to the field in London, Ontario.
“I think we are a little undersized on our defensive line,” assesses the Team Ontario East head coach. “The guys are aggressive and they can move but we have concerns about how they’ll match up against some of the big defensive lines you can see at this tournament.”
“Our defensive back core is also a concern because we feel like we may not be able to play as much man to man coverage based on their physical ability.”
However, Engel says that he is confident the team will overcome those shortcomings due to the depth of assistant/positional coaches Team Ontario East has on staff.
“I think we will have to be smart on defense and play assignment football; our defensive coordinator, Ryan Bechmanis is an exceptional X’s and O’s guy and I am confident he will have our guys in the best positions to execute well,” adds Engel. “Offenses struggle with execution in these tournaments and it’s important to be patient on defense and Ryan is the perfect guy for the job.”
“On the offensive line, we have an exceptional position coach from St. Andrew’s College in head Coach Len Gurr. Luigi Costanzo, our offensive coordinator is looking at number of different options that allow us to get the ball out quick in the pass game and use misdirection to set blocks up better in the run game so if we can get our skill guys out into space, I think we can score some points.”
Team Ontario East knows they will be in for tough battles on the field during the Football Canada Cup as the level of competition amongst the other provincial teams will be great. For Engel, it’s even hard for him to predict which team could end up surprising everyone at the tournament.
“The competition level is always exceptional and Quebec is always the team to beat year in and year out,” says the Team Ontario East head coach. “They have a great staff of coaches every year and football in their province is flourishing.”
“It’s tough to say who will be the surprise team out there as the age level is young enough that the players have not had a lot of national exposure up to this point so it’s tough to say based on the fact that we have no idea about their personnel.”
As the team as making their final preparations in anticipation of their first game of the tournament on Saturday, they are determined to reach for their main goal by putting in a concerted, yet cohesive team effort.
“Our goal is to win tournament. In order to do that, our only expectation is that we have 100 percent effort from our players, and for our coaching staff to get everything that we can out of them,” comments Engel. “No amount of good talent or great coaching will do us any good unless the two work together.”
Team Ontario East Staff:
Head Coach: John Engel
Assistant Coaches: Ryan Bechmanis, Luigi Costanza, Tom Norwell, Tom Timlin, Len Gurr, Robert Hamm, Heath Weir
Team Ontario East Roster:
Number, Last Name, First Name, Position:
86 Zussino, Adam WR
70 Baker Avery DL
53 Brouwers, Michael LB
1 Carter, Michael WR
30 Chang, Simon RB
54 Chido, Mario LB
15 Domagala, Michael K
3 Elliis, Andrew WR
55 Gallagher, Ryan LB
77 Gionet, Vincent DL
62 Green, William OL
19 Hamlin, Nathaniel DB
99 James, Trevaughan DL
22 Jarosz, Steven DB
17 Johnston, Brandon DB
63 Johnston, Lake OL
33 Jorgen, Pelle RB
89 Kelly, Loughlin WR
56 Keough, Zack LB
23 Ling, Tyler DB
67 MacMillan, Samuel OL
4 Martin, Dejvan WR
64 MacMillan, Cody OL
57 Moore, Michael LB
52 Nafarrate, Diego LB
79 Nelson, Rashayne DL
93 Noakes, Liam DL
5 Olagbaiye, Victor DB
97 Ortega, J.P. DL
7 Papadakos, George QB
61 Rowlands, Thomas OL
12 Scott, Kaleb QB
20 Smith, Jake DB
32 Smith, Andrew RB
25 Spilotro, Austin DB
59 Szotyori, Lorand OL
27 Thelwell, D’Saun DB
65 Young, Tyler OL
88 Zulys, Alex WR
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