READING THE DEFENCE
Welland Centennial wins battle of turnovers in comback win
Stamford Hornets quarterback Jacob Trifunski passes the ball against the Welland Centennial Cougars in senior Division 1 Niagara public high school football Friday in Welland. Stamford lost 41-6 to fall to 0-2.
When it comes to interceptions it is much better to receive than to give. Just ask Michael Thornton. As a two-way player for the Welland Centennial Cougars – quarterback on offence, safety on defence – the Grade 11 student and first-year senior knows what can happen when a pass winds up in the wrong hands.
An interception can begin to change the momentum in a game, as did his first of two against the Stamford Hornets on Friday in Welland, or put an exclamation point to a convincing win, as did a pick six to round out the scoring in Centennial’s 41-6 come-frombehind victory.
Thornton, who also rushed for a touchdown, ranked turnovers as the No. 1 factor in the Niagara public high school Division 1 senior game. He suggested the outcome could have much different had the Hornets to build a two-touchdown lead by scoring on their first attempt in the red zone.
“We got that pick right at the goal line. It really changed the tone after that,” Thornton said. Indeed, it did. The visitors found themselves in the red zone on their next two possessions, and both times it was the Cougars’ Ethan Podetz, not a Stamford back, who caught the ball.
Centennial, which evened its record at 1-1, won the battle of turnovers, coughing up the ball one compared to six – four interceptions, two fumbles – for the Hornets.
“We made too many mistakes, took too many penalties and turned over the ball too many times,” said Stamford head coach Brad Martin after his team fell to 0-2 in league play.
He said the final score was more indicative of how the Hornets failed to execute their game plan rather than greater depth on Centennial’s side of the ball.
“Talent-wise, we’re similar,” Martin said. “We just make mistake after mistake. You can’t win like.”
Despite the drama of returning an interception for a touchdown, Thornton’s rushing TD on offence will be the one he will remember most from Friday’s game.
“I had to dive for the pile at the end,” he said with a laugh.
Thornton believes that playing under centre, which he did for much of the second half against Stamford, makes more knowledgeable than most flyhawks patrolling the defensive backfield.
“It’s way easier to read the offence when you’ve played quarterback,” he said. “I just know offence. I know the schemes that they`re going to run.”
Thornton finds playing defence is “more challenging” than lining up on offence when his team has the football.
“It’s more intricate, like footwork, schemes and positioning,” he said. “Offence is you have the ball and you score.”
As far as the Cougars are concerned, their season kicked off Friday, when they hosted Stamford, not last week, when they lost 4713 at home to the A.N. Myer Marauders, a team that competes in a higher division.
“The real season started on Monday for us.”
After a scoreless opening quarter, the Hornets stung first with Damian Magee’s 30-yard run for a touchdown on a sweep.
It was all Centennial after that with Wyatt Flagg rushing for 18and 15-yard touchdowns, Carl Paulemont on a 5-yard quarterback keeper and Ben Vasco connecting on 20- and 22-yard field goal attempts and finishing 6-for6 on converts.
Centennial and Stamford won’t be back on the gridiron until Friday, Oct. 14, when the Cougars host the Ridgeway-Crystal Beach Blue Devils and the Hornets are home to Myer in an all-Niagara Falls battle.