Centennial Spartans clinch first with shutout victory
GUELPH – It took until their final game of the regular season for the defending champion Centennial Spartans to clinch first place in the District 10 high school football league standings.
The Spartans secured top spot with a 42-0 win over the St. James Lions, a win that knocked the Lions off the top rung.
Centennial went into the first of Friday’s tripleheader at Alumni Stadium knowing they had to win and hold St. James to 10 points or less in the process to secure first place. A win by the Spartans would likely create a three-way tie for first between the Spartans, Lions and Bishop Macdonell Celtics, all with 4-1 records.
The first tiebreaker would be the record between the three, but that wouldn’t break the tie as they’d all be at 1-1. Next on the list would be the points allowed in the games among the three and that would break Centennial’s way if they held St. James to less than 11 points.
St. James would get first place with a win and Centennial would be third.
Barring an upset loss to the Guelph CVI Green Gaels in the second game of Friday’s tripleheader, Bishop Mac would get first if St. James scored 12 points or more and Centennial scored 15 points or more. As rare as a 20-11 final would be, a win by Centennial by that score wouldn’t have broken the three-way deadlock.
Anyway, the Spartans left nothing in doubt with their one-sided win, Centennial’s coaching staff and last-year players likely remembering a 50-16 loss to St. James in the 2018 final.
The Spartans led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter as Jackson Leshuk scored a touchdown on a two-yard run midway through the quarter and Mohamed Idris added the convert.
They increased the lead to 21-0 at halftime on TDs by Lucas Medulun and Matt Stam and two converts by Idris. Medulun found the endzone on a three-yard run early in the quarter and Stam caught a 22-yard TD pass from Leshuk with four seconds to go.
Centennial added another TD by Medulun late in the third quarter and got it to straight time (35-point difference in the second half) with 6:40 to go with his second TD of the game. Medulun made it a hat trick of touchdowns two minutes later. Idris converted all three second-half touchdowns.
The win by the Spartans combined with the expected results in the final two games of the day left Centennial, St. James and Bishop Mac tied with 4-1 records. Spartans get first and the Lions are second thanks to their win over Bishop Mac earlier in the season. Ross Royals get fourth at 2-3 with Lourdes Crusaders fifth at 1-4 and Guelph CVI Green Gaels sixth at 0-5.
Ironically, the final two games of the regular season were quarter-final playoff previews as Ross and Lourdes are to play Friday at 4 p.m. and Bishop Mac and GC are to tangle at 7 p.m.
Winners advance to semifinal games against Centennial (4 p.m.) and St. James (7 p.m.) Nov. 10.
The D10 championship match is set for Nov. 10 at 6 p.m.
All playoff games are to be played at Alumni Stadium.
Bishop Macdonell 47 Guelph CVI 0
Bishop Mac made sure it would be a quick second half as they ran to a 40-0 lead in the opening half.
The Celtics scored three TDs in the first quarter and added two more, a safety and a field goal in the second quarter. Their final TD of the game came early in the third quarter.
Sam Shoniker scored three touchdowns in the game including a return of the opening kickoff of the match. Adam MacMillan added two TDs and Marco Piccioni also had a touchdown. Dimitri Grieb kicked a field goal and six converts and the Gaels conceded the safety.
Ross 44 Lourdes 0
This game was actually for fourth place, although that didn’t matter for much other than bragging rights as the teams already knew they’d be facing each other again in the quarter-finals.
With all playoff games to be played at Alumni Stadium, there’s no home-field advantage.
The Royals took care of bragging rights by jumping to a 39-0 lead by halftime.
Charlie Thurtell accounted for 18 points as he scored a touchdown, kicked a field goal, caught a two-point convert pass, booted four single-point converts and also kicked a rouge.
Isaac Misener and Drew McQueen each scored two touchdowns.
- Guelph Sports Journal