St. Mike’s fends off tenacious Cardinals
Cardinal Newman comeback attempt falls short
A little more here, a little less there and Cardinal Newman could have had its first OFSAA Bowl title Monday morning.
Instead, they’ll have to be satisfied with providing multi-time champion Toronto St. Michael’s Kerry Blues all they could handle, and helping get the OFSAA Bowls Festival at Tim Hortons Field off to an entertaining, intense start.
The Cards trailed 21-0 after the first half of the Independent Bowl, but owned the second 24 minutes in a 21-18 loss to the Kerry Blues, who’ve won seven Metro Bowls, but were returning to Bowl play for the first time since 2008.
“We gave ourselves chances, but we dug holes for ourselves, too,” said Cardinal Newman coach, Anthony Macaluso.
The Hamilton Catholic league runners-up executed a perfect onside kick recovery in the thirdquarter, after Logan McKerracher’s touchdown reception from Cards’ quarterback Daniel Eldridge, but were flagged for offside, negating the play.
In the first quarter, they had driven 89 yards to the St. Mike’s one-yard line before fumbling into the end zone and losing possession. In the fourth, they were uncharacteristically muted at thirdand-two. They also had a missed field goal attempt.
Still, Newman had a chance to tie the score, taking the ball at their own 35 with 26 seconds left, after forcing St. Mike’s to surrender their second safety touch of the game. However, after one promising first down their drive and, season, ended when the Kerry Blues defence stiffened.
The second safety touch was precipitated by a hefty brawl after a Newman onside kickoff attempt, resulting in 50 yards in penalties to the Kerry Blues and pinning them deep in their own end.
“Our athletes made some big plays in the first half, but Cardinal Newman was really coming back,” said Greg Wojt, who was the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ most outstanding offensive lineman in 2013 and is now line coach at St. Mike’s.
“We got playing our best football at the right time. This was a great experience. Cardinal Newman is a very good team, very wellcoached and disciplined.”
McKerracher caught five passes and Tyler Bridgman seven for the Cardinals, while Calvin Kelly had 93 yards rushing, with a touchdown, and Brayden Kelly carried for 80. Eldridge completed 20 of 33 passes for 216 yards. Robbie Kemp Welch tossed for 241 yards for St. Michael’s.
“We weren’t firing the way we are capable of,” Macaluso said. “We got stuffed on a third down. Every time we got ourselves ready it seemed like we’d make a key mistake at the wrong time, or not execute when we needed to. That’s why they’re the winners and we’re not.”
Newman finished the year at 8-3, their only other two losses coming against St. Thomas More.
Later, Courtice’s Holy Trinity rallied for a 28-23 win over Peterborough Crestwood in the Eastern Bowl; and Arnprior District won the National Capital Bowl over Innisfil’s Nantyr Shores 28-10.
Tuesday is the busiest of the three Bowl days, with four games. The four teams in the final two games of the day are all ranked in the top 10 in Canada.
The Central Bowl between Mississauga’s Lorne Park and Hespeler’s Jacob Hespeler opens play at 10 a.m. Then it’s the Metro Bowl between Toronto schools Richview and Michael Power-St. Joseph, kicking off at 1 p.m.
The top-ranked team in the country, the London South Lions, take on No. 9 Holy Names of Windsor in the Western Bowl at 4 p.m.
That will be followed by the only evening match of the week, with Hamilton’s St. Thomas More Knights, now ranked No. 4 in the country and seeking their fifth OFSAA bowl title, against Welland Notre Dame, who moved up to 10th place in this week’s canadafootballchat.com national rankings. That game goes at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on Cable 14.
The Bowls Festival ends Wednesday with the Northern Bowl at 11 a.m. and the Simcoe Bowl at 2 p.m.