NCSSAA (Ottawa) – United Way Day Doesn’t Disappoint!

Game 1 (tier 2) – St. Pius X (2-0) 59 vs. Sacred Heart (0-2) 0

It was domination from the first series to the last for Pius. Controlling both sides of the ball, Pius’ X-Men were just too strong for their opponents. Sacred Heart fell behind 4 touchdowns by the end of the 1^st quarter and seemed deflated for the rest of the game.
Much of St. Pius’ scoring came from the ground game, #3 Augustin Mande, who rushed for close to 300 yards on the day, Mande hit pay dirt 5 times and seemed to average close to a first down every carry. Sacred’s #23 pounded the ball up the middle courageously all game but to no avail. The Pius X defence played aggressive, led by their Safety, #2 Justin Butler who seemed to be all over the field making tackles as well as making big plays on punt returns.
Undefeated and scoring an average of 50 points a game, Head Coach Tim Robillard knows his guys have to keep working, “You get off to a start like this and its a confidence booster for sure, we just can’t let it get to our heads.”
Game 2 (tier 2) – Immaculata (0-2) 7 vs. Franco Cite (1-1) 37
The game didn’t start well for the Saints, the opening kickoff went untouched by their return unit and was recovered by Franco Cite. The ensuing series saw Franco Cite’s offence drive into the redzone, but only to settle for a FG attempt after a Saints defensive stand. From the 19 yard line, kicker Hadi Besmar split the uprights to give his team the early lead.
The play would go back and forth until an Immaculata interception by #22 Tristan Evans, who then took the ball across half and into Franco territory. A Franco Cite personal foul would put Immaculata right at their doorstep. Despite some ground and pound from #27 Devin Brazeau, the Saints couldn’t put the ball in the endzone and were forced to attempt a game tying FG. The snap would be botched, and the ball turned back over to Franco Cite.
At the end of the half the score was only 9-1 in favor of Franco Cite, who would go on to lay another 28 points on the Saints in the second half making the final score 37-7.
11 of those points were thanks to the accurate leg of Hadi Besmar who kicked 3 FG’s and 2 extra points. The lone Saint touchdown was scored late in the 4^th quarter by QB #3 Josh Racine who caught a 40 yard trick play, bomb from RB Devin Brazeau. The attempted 2-point conversion failed. The touchdown would be quickly answered by Franco Cite’s #34 Alain Cimankinda with under a minute to play, followed by a 2-point conversion by Besmar on a botched extra point. Making the final score 37-7 for Franco Cite.
Game 3 (tier 1) – St. Mark’s (0-2) 6 vs. St. Francis Xavier (2-0) 30

This game was being talked about well before the players took to the field, and CIS scouts seemed to gather together for this one. Some of the universities present for the game were Queens, Concordia, and even Carelton.
After a five minute delay due to a RogersTV equipment issue, the kickoff was whistled in and the game took off, with back to back interceptions. St. Mark’s offense took the field first, only to be replaced for the defensive unit after a St. FX interception (#23). One play later they would come back on field after a St. Mark’s interception by #27 Liam Lerat. Both teams went two and out for much of the 1^st quarter. St. FX would eventually strike first from the two yard line thanks to #1 Tunde Adeleke who was electrifying all day with a pair of touchdown runs. The convert was good by #15 QB Michael Bolzanello, who then followed it up with a short FG in the 2^nd quarter.
With a 10-0 deficit, St. Mark’s dug in and drove the ball slowly across half field and into St. FX territory. They were almost down to the 30 yard line with less than 3 minutes to go in the 2^nd quarter when on 3^rd down, they called upon #6 Dom Sepowicz to attempt a 40 yard FG to put some points on the board. The snap was good, the hold was was good, and Sepowicz had the leg, but the kick sailed left.
Tunde Adeleke capped off the ensuing drive with a dazzling 25 yard dash for a St. FX touchdown, and Bolzanello converted the extra point. The half would end at 17-0 on an interception by St. FX’s #44 on St. Mark’s QB #2 Justin Poitras as they tried again to answer with a score.
“Look out for #1, he’s the most exciting player in the league. He can score at any time.” Said St. FX Head Coach Mark Jenning’s, about RB Tunde Adeleke.
The second half started with a bit of a stalemate between the two opponents, and it would be St. Mark’s finally getting on the board in the 4^th thanks to some downhill running by #15 Eesa Akrouche, convert was no good. Bolzanello and the offense would answer and seal the deal for St. FX with a 40 yd touchdown pass by Bolzanello to his wideout (#10), the convert was good.
A late scoop and score on a fumbled snap by the St. FX defensive unit (#26) added to the final score, ending the game 30-6.
St. FX will host St. Peter’s next week (Oct 11th), and the way things look, this could definitely be a Tier 1 championship preview.
Game 4 – Garneau (0-2) 7 vs. Colonel By (2-0) 56

Colonel By is undefeated after a blowout game against Garneau, Cougars QB #15 Thom Richards threw for five touchdowns in an outstanding performance. Three of those touchdown grabs belonged to #7 Josh Rector who seemed to be in a league of his own throughout the game. Another notable was #81 Aaron Birch, who knotted 5 converts as well as a touchdown catch of his own.
Garneau’s only score of the day was from #2 Benoît Carriérre with #85 Marco Ragusa converting the extra point. Garneau’s offensive unit struggled all day with Colonel By’s defense, anchored by LB #54 Callum Lurie.
Other Notes and Scores
St. Joseph’s (1-1-0) 14 vs. Mother Theresa (1-1-0) 14 – A defensive battle which saw two winners in the final score.
St. Patrick’s (1-1-0) 16 vs. Sir Wilfred Laurier (1-1-0) 16 – Amazingly enough this game played directly across the St. Joseph and Mother Theresa game. Another low scoring, defensive brawl resulting in a draw.
Holy Trinity (0-2) 21 vs. Glebe (1-1) 22 – A great win for Glebe coming off a loss from Pius X last week. Holy Trinity were expecting to come out as winners but instead they lose a heart breaker and look to turn the season around next week against Sacred Heart (0-2).