OFC: Burlington win advances Braves to playoffs

It was do or die for the Burlington Braves last Sunday. A loss to the Ottawa Sooners and the Braves’ season would be over. A win meant a spot in the semi-finals against the first place Windsor AKO Fratmen. The Braves squeezed out an exciting “down to the wire” 17 – 15 victory with a complete team effort.

The Braves received the opening kick-off and moved the ball down to Ottawa’s 20-yard line where Ryan Lambert kicked a field goal and the Braves were on their way. It was the Pearsall brothers’ show on the Braves next possession with Luke picking off his first of three Ottawa passes. Then Lucas Spagnuolo hit Jake Pearsall with a 23-yard touchdown strike. The convert by Lambert increased the score to 10 – 0. Lambert added another single on a missed field goal then hit on his next attempt to put the Braves up 14 – 0 with just 1:38 left to go in the first half. Ottawa’s Yannick Rickli then threw a 54 yard touchdown pass to JP Hamelin on a hitch and go pattern that left the defender in his tracks.

The Braves defence was outstanding through the entire first half until the scoring play started to turn the tide in Ottawa’s favour.

In the second half, the sky opened up and the rains came, making it difficult for both teams to generate offence. Early in the fourth, Ottawa was in a position to score again however, Rob Downey saved a touchdown with a tackle after a 40-yard Ottawa completion. One of the many turning points in the game came in the fourth quarter, the Braves defence had a tremendous goal line stand, stopping Ottawa three times from Burlington’s one-yard line. The offence was unable to get beyond their own one yard line, where they took over the ball. Kevin Kitmura dropped the ball attempting to concede a safety and Ottawa’s Tyler Jardine recovered the ball in the end zone for an Ottawa touchdown. The convert tied the score with only eight minutes remaining.

Another Luke Peasall interception stopped an Ottawa drive and the Braves moved the ball down to the Sooners 20-yard line where Lambert’s attempted field goal went wide for a single point. The Sooners took over on their own 35 yard line but were pushed back by the Braves defence and a 15-yard penalty. Ottawa then gave up a safety and the Braves led 17 – 15.

With just a minute left in the game the Sooners generated some passing yards and moved the ball deep into Burlington’s end. A game tying 39-yard Ottawa field goal attempt with 25 seconds on the clock was not successful and the Braves pulled out a 17-15 victory.

Spagnuolo passed for 269 yards with 26 completions in difficult conditions, and ran for another 30 yards with one interception. Kareem Black rushed for 32 and Mayvon Wassel for 28 yards. Ryan Dunaway had seven catches for 86 yards, Alex Coutu another six for 71 yards, and Jake Pearsall four for 54 yards.

On defence, Dragan Kunac and Rob Dowling had four tackles each. Kitamura kicked for 308 yards in eight punts, and Lambert scored the most points with nine.

“This may have been our most complete game of the year and it came at the right time, the boys carried over their level of focus and intensity from the previous week and it paid off.” said head coach Neil Lumsden. “The coaches also did a great job in game planning for a very tough Sooner team, next stop Windsor.”

The Braves leave early Saturday morning for a 1pm kick off in Windsor against the undefeated AKO Fratmen in the semi-final. The game will be live streamed on the OFC website OFCfootball.com.