Varsity

Varsity Stampeders come from behind, remain undefeated and atop the standings
The Burlington varsity Stampeders had the early time slot to make a locally televised game against the Chatham Cougars in the Ontario Football Conference (OFC). The viewers in southwestern Ontario had a thrill with a game that was close until the fourth quarter when the Stampeders pulled away for a 32-14 final.

The long early bus ride and adjustments by Cougars resulted in a slow start for the Stampeders who struggled to find their rhythm early for their league leading offense and defence. The Cougars capitalized early with a pounding run game which resulted in the first major of the game. The Stampeders first score was on a safety conceded by the Cougars. Wes Livermore added a field goal, and the defence added the first major for the Stamps when Austin Cornell scored on a recovered fumble resulting from a blindside hit of the QB by Matt Delmas.
In the second half the Stampeders adjustments resulted in Aaron Veltri rushing for more than 200 yards including two touchdowns one with three minutes and another with only six seconds left to the game. Finch completed to Wes Livermore who also was good for three kicking converts.

The varsity squad remain in first with the stingiest defence with only 33 points against in five games. They travel to Barrie to face the 2-2 Huronia Stallions in a short week, next Saturday.

JV Stamps remain undefeated, tied for first

In their second meeting of the season the Chatham-Kent Cougars could not make enough adjustments to withstand the Stampede of the Burlington JV team with a final score of 59-14. The depth of talent on Burlington’s team was on display, with a 35-0 score at the half.
Offensively the O-line of Ben Howlett, James Morin, Ryan Price, Nick Thun and Josh Mitchell dominated the line of scrimmage allowing the Stamps to perfect their running game with help from Cole Masnaghi clearing the lanes. The end result was a hat trick of touchdowns each for running backs Jonathan Howard and Jake Lavigne, and one for Michael Lewczuk and only one punt for the entire game. Conner Cooke added the final touchdown with a 21 yard catch from quarterback Troy Downton. Adam Macintosh added a 33 yard field goal to his stats in addition to six successful kicking converts in eight attempts .

Defensively Burlington came out hungry. Their constant penetration and quarterback sacks early in the game sent a signal to the scrambling Chatham offence. Jack Thorne led the defence with two quarterback sacks and three tackles, Andrew Ziebart and Chandler Bradshaw added one each. Addison Olah and Ziebart had four tackles each and Carter Gladman, Bryce James three a piece. Interceptions by Ziebart and Carson Neddow fueled the defensive momentum.
The Cougars demonstrated remarkable tenacity with two explosive touchdown runs in the fourth quarter, from Tanner Emery and from Anthony Cunha.

With a quick congratulations the coaching staff reminded the boys the competition is about to heat up. The Stampeders face another undefeated team, Huronia Saturday.

Bantam win keeps them tied for first

The Bantam Stampeders made the trek to Chatham on Sunday night to face the Cougars and came out victorious. The 47 – 21 win keeps Burlington tied for first in OFC Bantam division with Peterborough Wolverines and Forest City Thunderbirds.

The offence was led by Dominic Mandalfino and Andrew Pipilas with a combined total of 361 rushing yards and Nicholas Arcaro, Pipilas and Owen Potter with 39 passing yards; however touchdowns were scored by many. Kevin Boelhouwer led with two touchdowns and Tyson Delic, Ethan Law, Mandalfino and Pipilas each had one. The defence also contributed to the scoring, when, on the last play of the game Chatham quarterback was intercepted by Alex Gastaldini who ran the ball back for a 55 yard touchdown. Matthew Walker was good on five converts.

The defence again came out strong. Along with the Gastaldini interception, the Chatham quarterback was intercepted by Keenan Lang and had many passes knocked down by the defence. Josh Chedore and Jack Miller led with five tackles each; Aaron Gustafson, Keenan Lang, and Eddie Schmidt four each and many other defence players with three each.
Special teams were also an important part of this game with Chedore, Peter Dabic, Connor Fath Mandalfino and Pipilas combining for 147 years on punt and kickoff returns. Both Delic and Walker kicked exceptionally well for the Stampeders.

Chatham scored their first touchdown when Tyson Delic (replacing an injured Jacob Racco who went down in the first quarter and returned in the second half) threw an interception to Brady Pataki who ran it back 25 yards for a touchdown to end the second quarter. Pataki added a second touchdown late in the third quarter and Jake Anderson scored late in the fourth. All three touchdowns were converted.

“Now that was four quarters of Football” said Bantam head coach Cliff Bruce to his team after the game. “It’s a great win going into our bye week, heading forward with a great full team effort. The offensive line controlled the game and was a big reason we were able to rack up over 500 yards rushing”

The bantams have a by week this week-end and will be ready to hit the field next on July 10th at home against the Sarnia Sturgeon.

Picture:
courtesy of Eddy Furlan