Mississauga Warriors trump Ottawa Myers Riders to win OVFL junior varsity title

The performance of the Mississauga Warriors truly demonstrated what it meant to play like champions in Saturday’s Ontario Varsity Football League Junior Varsity championship game. Mississauga won the game 21-7, dominating both the offensive and defensive ends of the contest.

A matchup that was said to be a close game between these two very talented teams ended up being a very strong showing by the defence of the Warriors, as they only allowed the Myers Riders to score one touchdown.

Mississauga went in against a very good quarterback in Ottawa’s Michael Arruda, who came into the game passing for 600 more yards than Mississauga’s Nate Hobbs. The Myers Riders were on a 14-0 winning streak and to top it all off they had players with higher statistics in every category except kickoff yardage and returning.

Therefore Ottawa’s quarterback had to have a strong performance against Mississauga’s core of talented receivers and the running of SN Elad. As the game progressed, it was clear that the speed of the Mississauga Warriors was too much to handle for the defense of Ottawa’s Riders.

The scoring started off with a five yard touchdown pass to Joshua Perez at the 7:43 mark during the first quarter. After Ottawa made it to Mississauga’s 15-yard line where they missed a field goal attempt, Tyrell Ivey ran the ball back for 70 yards on the kick return leading Gabriel Ferraro to make a 32-yard field goal.

The tempo stayed in the favor of Mississauga for most of the game as they were able to add another touchdown with a 10-yard pass to Tyrell Ivey in the second quarter, earning him the game MVP award.

The defence took over after a comfortable 18-0 lead as they made two big plays by forcing turnovers, including an interception from linebacker Brendan Kutles. With 8:42 left in the game, Ottawa’s quarterback was able to connect with a receiver in the end zone, but it was too little too late.

The defence seemed to frustrate the Myers Riders offence as there was a lot of pushing and shoving from them towards the end of the game. Defence is what won the game for Mississauga as they were able to shut down Ottawa’s high scoring team. Ottawa will have to learn from this game and take this loss as preparation for next year.