No semifinal scares as Ross and Bishop Mac advance
GUELPH – It might be considered the Halloween weekend, but there were no scares in the District 10 high school football league’s quarter-final playoffs Friday at Alumni Stadium.
The fourth-place Ross Royals defeated the fifth-place Lourdes Crusaders 41-0 in the opening game of the quarter-final doubleheader while the third-place Bishop Macdonell Celtics blanked the sixth-place Guelph CVI Green Gaels 67-0 in the second game.
The first-place Centennial Spartans and second-place St. James Lions had byes and are to host semifinal matches next Friday at Alumni Stadium. Centennial is to play Ross at 4 p.m. and St. James and Bishop Mac are to clash at 7 p.m.
The quarter-final matches actually had previews a week earlier on the final day of the regular season in games where the teams didn’t give too much away. That day, Ross beat Lourdes 44-0 and Bishop Mac downed GCVI 47-0.
The semifinal winners are to meet in the championship game Nov. 10 at 6 p.m. at Alumni Stadium.
Ross 41 Lourdes 0
The Royals scored 10 points in the first quarter, 14 in the second quarter (all in the final two and a half minutes of the quarter) and 14 more in the third quarter.
Ross got the game into straight time (a 35-point lead) with a minute and a half to go in the third quarter.
Charlie Thurtell’s foot accounted for 11 points as he kicked field goals in the first and fourth quarters and converted all five touchdowns.
Troy MacDonald had a pair of touchdowns, both on catches of passes from quarterback Tim Nixon. He scored one on a four-yard play in the first quarter and the other one on a 14-yard play in the third quarter.
Drew McQueen also scored two TDs, one in the second quarter on a 25-yard run while the other one came in the third quarter.
Isaac Misener scored the other touchdown on a 30-yard pass from Nixon in the final minute of the first half.
Ross advances to play Centennial in the semifinals. The Spartans squeezed out a 31-29 victory in the opening week of the regular season.
Bishop Mac 67 Guelph CVI 0
The second half was played in straight time after the Celtics grabbed a 39-0 lead by halftime. Bishop Mac led 16-0 at the end of the first quarter and 53-0 after the third quarter.
Sam Shoniker scored a pair of touchdowns as he had one on a 30-yard run and the other on an 84-yard catch and run play.
Zidan Ali collected 13 points as he scored a TD on a 23-yard run and he kicked converts after all seven touchdowns.
Adam MacMillan had two TDs, his first one coming on a 25-yard run in the first quarter and his second one coming in the fourth quarter.
Other touchdowns for Bishop Mac were scored by Ryan Wolf on a 53-yard catch and run play in the first quarter, Marco Piccioni on a 13-yard run in the second quarter, Anas Enouri on a seven-yard reception in the third quarter and Colton Maddocks on a 26-yard catch and run play in the final quarter.
The other points came when GCVI conceded a pair of safeties.
Bishop Mac advances to play St. James in the semifinals. The Lions defeated the Celtics 16-10 in the regular season on a wet night at Alumni Stadium Oct. 5.
In the end, that result gave St. James second in the final standings after Centennial, St. James and Bishop Mac all finished the regular season with 4-1 records.
The Spartans were placed first by allowing 19 points in their games against Bishop Mac and St. James. Bishop Mac allowed 30 and St. James allowed 52. The points allowed were used only to decide first place while the tie between the other two was broken by their regular-season meeting.
- Guelph Sports Journal