The stampede was in town on June 13 with all four Burlington Stampeder summer football teams taking on worthy opponents.

Varsity Stamps Crush Toronto Jr. Argos 25-0

The Burlington Stampeder Varsity squad remained undefeated as they moved to 3-0, shutting out the Toronto Jr. Argos 25-0. Slotback Ryan DiRisio led the offense with 109 yards on the ground and scored one touchdown. QB Will Finch passed for 181 yards to lead the air attack. Ian Stewart and Brett Blasko were the favourite receivers on the day, each pulling in passes for 106 and 91 yards, respectively. Wideout Max Mezzabotta also scored a touchdown. The Burlington offensive line anchored by Addison Marks and Tyler Reeves provided key protection to allow the Stamps passing attack to thrive.

Randy Williams led the stingy Stamps defense with 8 tackles on the day. Tanner Care was in on 6 tackles and provided a key momentum changer, as he picked up a loose ball on a Stamp kickoff, early in the second quarter, and took it into the end zone for a TD, to put the Stamps up by 14. Defensive lineman Jordan Thompson was a key factor in pressuring the Toronto offence and recorded 2 QB sacks.

Head coach Neil Lumsden’s squad has time to rest up before a road game in Chatham against the 0-3 Cougars, June 27 at 7pm.

Third shut out for Jr Varsity tier 1 Stampeders

The Jr Varsity tier 1 team, led by head coach Sean Williamson, dominated their opponent for the third time in as many games with a 48-0 shutout against the Sudbury Gladiators. They started early with a touchdown on their first possession, a 38-yard run. Two touchdowns in each of the first two quarters and three scores in the third along with a near perfect conversion percentage, accounted for the 48 points.

Mercer Timmis led the Stamps with four scores and 181 yards rushing, Leigh Szela had three, one on a punt return in addition to his 85 rushing. There were two other scores that were called back as a result of penalties. Brady Switzer, Wes Livermore and Adam Dunnik had two catches each in support of the offence.

The defence earned the shut out with support from Addison Olah and Bryce James with eight tackles each, Jesse Meyers had another five in addition to the sacks from Troy Murphy and Lucas Brenton and an interception by Lucas Merlin. The fumble recoveries by Blake Culver, Lucas Merlin and Kyle Hallet helped keep the offence on the field.

The Jr Varsity tier 1 team with a 3 – 0 is in action again on June 20 in Newmarket at Ray Twinney Field with a 1:30pm start against the 1-2 York Simcoe Bucs.

Jr Varsity 2 Stamps fall to strong Chatham team

For the Jr Varsity tier 2 Stampeders, it was a bad omen when the Chatham Cougars scored on the first possession in both the first and second halves of the game. In a game with moments of brilliance followed by fumbles and interceptions, there are signs of potential for the future.

The first score was a field goal, but it was followed by a touchdown on a punt return on the Stamps first possession. The Stamps were down by ten by the end of the first quarter. Burlington’s quarterback Thomas Riolo, kept his cool leading the team to a touchdown in the second quarter. A failed point after and another Chatham score on its next possession, followed by another in the closing seconds of the half, saw a score of 20-6 at the break. Again, the Stamps battled back for another touchdown, and again fell short in the conversion. The defence played strong for the balance of the game which ended with a score of 27 – 12 for Chatham.

The defence was strong for most of the game, the Cougars were able to strike in the moments when there was a breakdown. Travis Dietl delivered two sacks and several key tackles with help from Cole Mashaghi. Jude Armson led the defence with seven tackles plus an interception, Alec Robertson delivered four tackles to help contain the lightening fast Cougar offence.

On the offence, Jonathon Howard scored one touchdown and rushed for 64 yards, Michael Palermo ran in the other score in addition to his 15 yards. Riolo passed for 104 yards, with one spectacular 69-yard completion to Spiros Dhimarko plus two interceptions. Troy Downton passed for 28 yards, rushed for 28 and had two interceptions.

Head coach Ken Looker said to his squad after the game, “The only way we are going to fix this is by working harder. This is not a video game. We need to dig down deep and work harder.”

The Jr Varsity tier 2 Stamps fall to 0-2. They play next week-end at Notre Dame High School at 1pm against local rivals, the Oakville Titans. The Stamps will be looking to avenge their loss in the semi-finals last year.

Bantams score big against the Toronto Jr Argos

The bantam Stamps, coached by head coach Mike Ramsay scored early and often to beat the Jr Argo squad 55-6. The team is getting ready for an away game next Sunday in Newmarket at Ray Twinney field before the JV tier one game in the afternoon. The York Region Bucs have a 1-1 record and gave last year’s Stamps two close matches last year.