Centennial-Ross thriller completes opening-day tripleheader
GUELPH — Apologies to Meatloaf, but one out of three ain’t bad for the District 10 high school football’s opening-day tripleheader.
One close game and two not so close matches in the first week of play and that thrilling close game sure made up for the lopsided ones earlier in the day.
Two scores in the final minute left the final score of the nightcap at Alumni Stadium 31-29 for the defending champion Centennial Spartans over the Ross Royals.
That came about nine hours after the season kicked off at Exhibition Park and the St. James Lions posted the first win of the campaign, a 35-7 triumph over the host Guelph CVI Green Gaels.
Then at Alumni Stadium, the Bishop Macdonell Celtics ran to a 52-0 victory over the Lourdes Crusaders.
League play is to resume with a tripleheader Friday. The Royals are to host Bishop Mac at Ross in the opener at 1 p.m. while the other two games are to be played at Alumni Stadium. Lourdes is to tangle with St. James at 4 p.m. and GCVI is to take on Centennial at 7 p.m.
Centennial 31 Ross 29
Ross thought they’d come back for the victory with 55 seconds to go in the game when they scored a touchdown and added the convert to go up by two points.
However, that was just a little too much time left for the Spartans to work with and they advanced the ball down the field and eventually kicked a short field goal with three seconds to go for the win.
Mohamed Idris kicked the winning field goal for Centennial. He also converted all four touchdowns. Jackson Leshuk scored two of those TDs while Dimitri Agelakos and Matt Stam each added one TD.
Tim Nixon struck for three TDs and a two-point convert (with 4:34 to go in the fourth quarter) for Ross while Troy MacDonald also scored a TD and Isaac Misener kicked three converts.
St. James 35 Guelph CVI 7
St. James had a big second quarter as the Lions scored three converted TDs and a rouge on a missed field goal to flirt with straight time. But it never happened.
The clock is run on straight time in the second half as soon as one team is ahead by 35 points. It never goes back to game time with the clock stopping on whistles even if the trailing team narrows the gap to less than 35 points.
The Lions led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter and 29-0 at halftime before a scoreless third quarter.
Evan Nikolasevic and Messiah Gordon each scored two touchdowns for St. James while Lemalachi Betton added one TD. Kwynn Stringer kicked four converts and rouge on a missed field goal.
Matt Robinson scored GC’s touchdown just less than two minutes into the fourth quarter. Tonatiuh Espindola added the convert.
Bishop Macdonell 52 Lourdes 0
The Celtics did get the game into straight time as they dominated the Crusaders.
Bishop Mac led 14-0 after the first quarter, 42-0 at halftime and 48-0 after the third quarter.
Sam Shoniker broke free for three touchdowns for the Celtics while Ryan Wolf, Philip Oates and Anas Enouri had one apiece. No player was credited with the other TD. Dimitri Grieb kicked seven converts and a field goal.
- Guelph Sports Journal