Lions roar off to 2-0 start to season
The Niagara Falls Lions are living up to their name two weeks into the Niagara Regional Minor Football Association’s atom regular season.
Marco Angelini scored four touchdowns and Austin MacRae two Sunday at Kiwanis Field in St. Catharines, where the E-Quip Rentals were the kings of the four-down, 12-per-side jungle with a 39-26 victory over the host Seahawks.
Shaheen Shizardi rounded out the scoring for Niagara Falls with three, one-point conversions.
Lucas Panbicci, with three TDs; and Braiden Genest, two converts; scored for Seahawks who were playing in their season opener after starting league play with a bye.
The road team also came away victorious in other action Sunday in the league’s entry-level division.
Grant Spada scored three touchdowns and added a convert to help the Fort Erie J& A Athletics Longhorns improve their record to 1-0-1 with 28-24 victory over the Welland Tiger-Cats at Eastdale Secondary School.
Gavyn Vazquez, with a touchdown; Ryan Schultz, two-point conversion; and Jack Lunn, convert; also scored for the Longhorns who were coming off a 12-12 tie with the West Niagara Steelers to kick off the regular season.
Welland dropped to 0-2 despite three touchdowns from Everett Hemauer and one from Ben Tsanoff.
West Niagara spent Week 2 of the atom season on the sidelines with a bye.
In peewee action Sunday, it was the St. Catharines Paul’s Kids Seahawks defeating the visiting Niagara Falls Condotta Merritt Insurance Argonauts 25-14 and the Fort Erie Golden Horsehoe Footcare and Apparel Longhorns taming the Welland Port Colborne Optimist Club Ticats at Eastdale.
Quinn Johnson, with two touchdowns and one convert; and Justin Savoie, two touchdowns; found the end zone for St. Catharines which improved to 1-0 after the starting the season with a bye.
Darius Best and Elijah Ferguson each recovered a fumble for the Seahawks and Wyatt Bron was a standout on defence leading the team with 10 tackles.
Tyrell Kelman and Rickie Moodie each scored a touchdown and Carson Gauthier had a two-point conversion for the Argos, who fell to 1-1 on the year.
Kody MacRae scored four touchdowns for the Longhorns, 1-1; and Nathan Lukta replied with one for the Ticats, 0-2.
Minor football’s bantam division played for points in the standings for the first time after starting the season with a four-team jamboree.
The Niagara Falls Legion Branch 51 Argonauts defeated the West Niagara Home Hardware Steelers 46-20 in a neutral-site game at Kiwanis Field, and the KLIX Sports Photography Longhorns topped the Niagara Barron Roofing Titans 37-7 at Eastdale as Fort Erie completed a three-division sweep on Welland.
Tristan Russell, with three touchdowns; Brock Coffin, Elijah Dappin, Chris Petorossi, Joshua Tropea, one each; and Jack Portfilio, two-point conversion; scored for the Argos. Drew DeAngelis had two interceptions and a fumble recovery for Niagara Falls.
Scoring information for West Niagara was not submitted.
Accounting for the Fort Erie offence were Kaiden Craft, two TDs, two-point conversion; Mason Arbic, two touchdowns; Campbell Laroche, touchdown, two-point conversion; Jackson Louws, touchdown reception; and Drew Teal, single.
Cameron Smith had a touchdown and Noah Biancaniello converted the point after attempt for the Titans.
On tap this Sunday: atom, West Niagara at Welland, Eastdale; St. Catharines at Fort Erie, Crystal Ridge Community Centre, both 9:30 a.m.; peewee, West Niagara at Welland, Eastdale; St. Catharines at Fort Erie, Crystal Ridge Community Centre, both 11:30 a.m; bantam, West Niagara at Niagara, Eastdale; Niagara Falls at Fort Erie, Crystal Ridge, both 1:30 p.m.
Niagara Falls’ atom and peewee teams both have byes.