OFC week 4 in review

Jim Stevenson Director, Alumni Affairs-London Beefeaters
The Harding Cup, an award in honour of long-time Burlington Braves and London Beefeaters trainer Dave Harding, will spend the next year in Burlington as the Braves defeated the Beefs 44-10 Saturday night in the second annual Harding Cup game.

On the bright side for London, the Sunshine Dreams for Kids Foundation benefited from all the
proceeds of the game. What happened to the Beefs? The usually strong defense gave up five touchdowns, most through the air, as the Braves racked up 286 net yards in offense according to preliminary statistics.
The Beefs’ offense came alive for this game but managed only one touchdown on a pass from new quarterback Riley McMurray to James Morrissey. The offense did, however, manage a reported 273 yards in net offense in this game.
Chris Vanmeppelenscheppink had another strong game on defense as he was credited with 5 tackles and 3 assists. This Saturday’s game in Brampton is a must-win game for the Beefs if they are to make a run at the 2010 playoffs.
Brampton is also 0-3 so they, too, will be desperate for a victory. Game time is 7:00 p.m. Saturday night at St. Marcellinus C.S.S. in Mississauga.

Mike Lachance Windsor AKO Fratmen
St Leonard has improved dramatically since the last time I saw them on tape vs Ottawa…..they took advantage of us and capitalized on their opportunities…..something we didn’t do. We left way too many points in the field….and against a team like that is a recipe for disaster.
Hamilton has the best defensive player in the OFC. They are well coached and will be prepared. We need to get back to the basics and play our best game of the year to beat them.
Karlos Coleman is playing well….he is a north-south runner and a team leader.
Steve McKeegan is also a captain and a guy that works his tail off every day. He is a coach on the field with the younger players….a good kid that you want to see succeed.

Jeff Rached St Leonard Cougars
Well Windsor certainly showed up for the game and took it to us in the 1st quarter. Their running game is powerful and they executed very well. However our athletes on defence slowly started to close the gates down and allowed us to catch our breath and get started offensively in the second quarter with the wind.
I was very encouraged to see our offense start to have sustained drives down the field and many players showed a lot determination and hard work to make things happen once they had the ball in their hands. Now we must keep this offensive momentum going into next game against the Sooners. As well we must clean up our Special Teams too many errors as we left a number of points off the board due to poor execution.
It’s nice to move up in the standings at 2-1 and now we will prepare for the Sooners. We will make some adjustments to our overall game plan to matchup with the Sooners but nothing drastic. We will correct the errors and work on execution. Our defence is improving every week and the offence is slowly developing their identity. I believe it’s a progression throughout the season and you try to get your athletes and team to peak heading the playoffs. Should be
another interesting and exciting game between the Cougars and the Sooners.

Mark Houlder Brampton Bears
Hamilton has much improved since their loss to the Braves. Physically we were outmatched. They got tougher in the second half when they added RB Rowe. They were able to shut down our double wing offense. They won the battle at the LOS. We have to take a hard look at the film to see how we can improve.
By Coleen Houlder, Bears Media Coordinator – The Brampton Bears’ 24-3 defeat by the
Hamilton Hurricanes came after Hamilton did their homework and were seemingly ready for the double wing offensive system run by the Bears. “Hats off to their defence,” said head coach, Mark Houlder, “they did a good job”.
The Bears’ lack of experience caused them to make several detrimental defensive mistakes – but nothing that more time and practice working together can’t fix. The Bears have made the necessary adjustments, are much better prepared, and are looking forward to their first win at their home field against the London Beefeaters at 7:00pm on Saturday, September 4th at St. Marcellinus Secondary School in Mississauga.
Coach Houlder admits that his players were out of sorts after their recent bye week and were therefore not aggressive enough. The team is looking forward to the return of a few key players from injury; Ryan Hector. Yunell Clayton and quarterback Brad Elliott will also be expected to play vital roles.
On Saturday, September 11th they are back at St. Marcellinus at 7:00pm and will be traveling to Windsor on Saturday, September 25th.

Team Record Home Away PF PA Pts

Burlington Braves 3-1 1-1 2-0 90 50 6
Ottawa Sooners 3-0 2-0 1-0 76 67 6
St Leonard Cougars 2-1 1-0 1-1 86 51 4
Hamilton Hurricanes 2-1 1-1 1-0 52 31 4
Windsor AKO Fratmen 1-2 0-1 1-1 65 67 2
Brampton Bears 0-3 0-1 0-2 39 69 0
London Beefeaters 0-3 0-2 0-1 27 100 0