Feature photo credit: Ryan McCabe
For the third year in a row, the St. Ignatius Falcons made the 15 hour trip from Thunder Bay to Hamilton, but this time they refused to go home empty handed after defeating the #CFC50 Bear Creek Kodiaks 29-16 in the Simcoe Bowl.
Before this game got away from Bear Creek in the final minute before halftime, it was shaping up to be one of the most competitive of the festival. The Kodiaks were first to strike midway through the opening quarter on an eight yard connection between quarterback Josh Cook and Noah Jacka to give them a 7-0 lead.
All that score did was wake up the Falcons, however, as Bryce Covello found a streaking Jake Robertson a mere 30 seconds later for a 74 yard touchdown pass that leveled the score at 7-7.
Then with just over four minutes remaining before halftime, the hero of our story enters the scene, as Liam Puskas snagged the first of his three interceptions on the night and returned it 40 yards to the house to give St. Ignatius a 14-7 lead.
Sensing that there was blood in the water, the Falcons wasted no time piling on another score as Covello found Josh Newransky on an 11 yard touchdown pass to extend the lead, which was then followed up with a rouge on the ensuing kickoff to make it 22-7. But St. Ignatius wasn’t done just yet, and neither was Liam Puskas.
With 1:30 left before halftime, and just two minutes after his first wave of damage, Puskas decided one pick-6 wasn’t enough, so he stepped in front of another errant pass and took it back 60 yards to all but dash Bear Creek’s dreams.
It took just over four minutes, but in that time span the Falcons’ outburst produced 22 of their 29 points, which was ultimately the downfall of the Kodiaks. Bear Creek did what they could to overcome the deficit, but a late score on another touchdown pass by Cook to Tyler Poole would come too late as St. Ignatius walked away with their first ever OFSAA title in school history.
Photo credit: Ryan McCabe
“It kind of meant everything to us.” says Falcons’ running back Nick Cull, who played an integral part in the victory rushing for 156 yards on 22 carries. “We won the city championship the last two years, but nobody from Thunder Bay has ever won an OFSAA before, so that was our only focus.”
Cull was one of the only true workhorse backs at the festival, carrying the ball 22 of the 25 times his team decided to run, and one of those carries is attributed to Covello who earned the yards from under centre. Newransky was the top target for Covello hauling in four catches for 42 yard and a touchdown, while Puskas decided to add another interception and a fumble recovery to his total in the second half – oh, and he also made eight tackles to round out a dream like performance.
It meant just a little bit more to both Cull and Puskas, who were forced to take in the festival from the sidelines last year after suffering injuries,
“I think we were expecting to come here a little bit more this year, we were preparing for it, and also our best player Liam Puskas was injured last year as well as myself.” Cull explains. “ I have been hoping to make it all season. I just remember sitting on the bench last year and wondering what maybe could have happened if I had played, and I really got to make up for that.”
On the other side of the field, I am sure Bear Creek is wishing they could have a redo on those final four minutes before halftime, because outside of that sequence of events the Kodiaks had no issues going toe-to-toe with the Falcons. Jacka had a spectacular game finishing with 113 yards on 16 carries to go along with his first quarter touchdown reception, while Poole caught five out of seven completion by Cook for 61 yards and a touchdown. Hayden Greely also made an impact when he could averaging 5.5 yards on six carries.
It took two long bus ride homes before they could get to this point, but with an OFSAA banner in their possession, I am sure nobody from St. Ignatius was complaining about the 15 hour trip back to Thunder Bay this time around.
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