Spartans, Lions remain undefeated after football’s Week 3
GUELPH – And then there were two.
The ranks of the undefeated in District 10 high school football fell by one Thursday.
Barring a tie or a huge upset, there was always going to be two teams left unbeaten following the league’s tripleheader.
When the rain stopped at the end of the night and everyone cleared out of Alumni Stadium, the Centennial Spartans and St. James Lions remained tied for first place at 3-0 while the Bishop Macdonell Celtics were third at 2-1 following a 16-10 loss to St. James in the third game of the day.
Centennial had scored a 45-7 win over the Lourdes Crusaders in the day’s opening game at Lourdes while the Ross Royals dropped the Guelph CVI Green Gaels 42-6 at Alumni Stadium in the day’s middle game.
The win by Ross moved the Royals into fourth at 1-2 while GCVI and Lourdes are tied for fifth at 0-3.
Play returns to Friday next week with what could be described as the league’s rivalry week. The tripleheader is to start with a 1 p.m. game between Ross and St. James at St. James while Bishop Mac and Centennial are to tangle at Alumni Stadium at 4 p.m. GCVI and Lourdes are to meet at Alumni Stadium in the day’s final game that is to start at 7 p.m.
The league’s regular season is to finish Oct. 20 when all three games that day are to be played at Alumni Stadium.
The stadium is also to be the site of the league’s playoffs with a quarter-final doubleheader Oct. 27 and a semifinal twinbill Nov. 3. Games are to start at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. both days.
The league final is scheduled for Nov. 10 at Alumni Stadium. Game time is 6 p.m.
Centennial 45 Lourdes 7
The win was a come-from-behind victory for the Spartans after Lourdes scored the game’s first touchdown four and a half minutes into the game when punter
Deison Chang Herrera recovered a fumble on the punt return. He scooped up the loose ball and ran 15 yards to the endzone and then completed the game’s scoring for the Crusaders by booting the convert.
The Spartans tied the score with three and a half minutes to go in the first quarter when Jackson Leshuk went right for a seven-yard TD run. Mohamed Idris kicked the convert.
Centennial went ahead for good with three TDs in the second quarter that gave them a 30-7 lead at halftime. Leshuk (1-yard run), Liam Smith (69-yard reception) and Kaden Butt (17-yard reception) scored the TDs while Idris converted all three and the Spartans added a safety.
Leshuk scored his third TD of the game on a five-yard run in the third quarter while Idris kicked the convert and a field goal.
Aiden VanEsch scored the final TD of the game with a catch on a five-yard TD toss. Idris had the convert.
Ross 42 Guelph CVI 6
The Royals got the game into straight time for the second half by scoring all of their points in the first half.
Ross led 20-0 at the end of the first quarter and 42-0 at halftime. A 35-point lead in the second half means the clock only stops for injuries, time outs and when the trailing team doesn’t get a play off on time.
The only score of the second half was a touchdown by GCVI’s Matt Robinson with 1:06 to go in the fourth quarter.
Drew McQueen of the Royals scored three TDs in the first half, two of them on two-yard plunges into the endzone. The other TDs came from Tim Nixon on a one-yard quarterback keeper, Simon Labelle on a 15-yard run and Isaiah Hare on a three-yard run.
Charlie Thurtell kicked four converts and Reid Williams caught a two-point convert pass on a bungled convert attempt.
St. James 16 Bishop Macdonell 10
The rain started to fall seconds before the game’s opening kickoff.
Rain fell sporadically throughout the game, including a downpour in the fourth quarter. The Lions seemed to have the upper hand whenever the rain was falling and the Celtics seemed to take over whenever it stopped.
However, once the Lions went ahead they never surrendered the lead. They were up 7-0 after the first quarter and 14-7 at halftime. All the scoring in the game was completed in the third quarter, Evan Nikolasevic of St. James making sure that was the case when he intercepted a pass at the Lions’ two-yard line with two seconds to play in the game.
Biggest play of the game, though, was a 91-yard TD run by Charlie D’Almada of the Lions with two and a half minutes to go in the opening half.
Caden Henry scored a touchdown on a keeper play midway through the first quarter for the other TD for the Lions while Kwynn Stringer converted both touchdowns and the Celtics conceded a safety.
Sam Shoniker hauled in a 16-yard pass for a touchdown with 1:16 to go in the first half for Bishop Mac’s TD. Dimitri Grieb converted the TD and kicked a 35-yard field goal midway through the third quarter.
- Guelph Sports Journal