OVFL: JV Hawkeyes can’t stop the storm; or the run

When you face a team that last year was just one win away from a championship appearance then you know your going to be in for a tough game. However, the Oshawa Hawkeyes Junior Varsity team discovered they were in for more then just that as they were run over by the Toronto Thunder Saturday, 44-7.

Hawkeyes Garrett Arsenault is listed as a WR, but as we know in Coach O’Connor’s system, players are virtually interchangeable. Arsenault was called upon to play under centre after injuries occurred to the Hawkeyes two starting QB’s. “Too many injuries forced us out of our game plan” said head coach O’Connor. Arsenault faired well completing 10 out of 15 passes for 135 yards. He did however, throw 3 interceptions and whenever you are responsible for taking your offence off the field it doesn’t help your confidence. However, Coach O’Connor doesn’t believe it will affect Arsenault in the future saying, “not at all, Garrett knew we were forcing the ball into cover three, but had no choice. He’ll be fine..”. Coach O’Connor said the team has not made any final decision on who will be the starting QB for next week. The offence didn’t put up nearly enough points to win but they played solid all around getting a total of 315 yards offensively. The lone score came from Mitch LaPlaunt who ran for the touchdown.

Defensively the team was out of sync almost all game long. The Hawkeyes only got to the Thunder QB once, and they didn’t cause any interceptions. The defence run stopping efforts were subpar at best, allowing Toronto’s star RB Kiel Ambursley to rush for 161 yards on just 14 carries. The Thunders offense in total had 284 yards. The major difference in the game was clearly turnovers as the Thunder didn’t throw any picks and the Hawkeyes threw three. The defence was on the field for longer then they are used to and when someone is able to single handedly run all over you, it takes a lot out of a team.

The Hawkeyes will try to move on from this disappointing game and focus hard this week on their next opponent the Cumberland Panthers. I asked Coach O’Connor how he and his staff can keep the teams morale high and his response was “Strong week of practice. Our postponed game hurt our rhythm. We just need to get back at it”. If the Hawkeyes are able to overcome this one game they should continue their winning ways against a tough team in the Panthers. “They are a good team, we have loads of respect for them” said O’Connor. I believe the Hawkeyes bounce back with a strong week of practice and win 35-14 over Cumberland.