Hawks and Rens in WCSSAA final
Jacob Hespeler an easy winner, Grand River has to go to OT
CAMBRIDGE — The drive for five is very much alive.
The Jacob Hespeler Hawks will attempt to win their fifth consecutive Waterloo County (WCSSAA) senior boys football championship Saturday afternoon, against the Grand River Renegades.
The Hawks advanced to the title game by recording a 45-9 win over the Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders in the opening half of a semifinal doubleheader at Jacob Hespeler Secondary School.
The Renegades needed overtime to score a 6-3 win over the Elmira Lancers in the nightcap.
Hawks quarterback Elijah Cruickshank threw a pair of touchdown passes to Aidan Carter and added a seven-yard rushing score as the Hawks cruised to a convincing victory. Jacob Hespeler scored two early touchdowns on its way to a 35-7 halftime lead.
The Hawks, who made a habit of fast starts during a 6-0 regular season, will be out to continue that trend in the WCSSAA final, which is scheduled for 1 p.m. at The Jake.
“We’ll come out the same as always, we’ll come out hard, we’ll come out strong, we’ll come out prepared,” said Carter.
“We knew we were going to get some competition (from SJAM) so it was important to get that fast start.”
The Hawks also benefited from a couple of friendly bounces in the early going, as running back Xavier Pineda twice fumbled the ball. But SJAM was unable to recover either.
Pineda countered his miscues by scoring the game’s first touchdown on a 25-yard run and intercepting SJAM quarterback Ahmed Fouad, also in the first quarter.
The Hawks took a 28-point lead at the stroke of halftime when Connor Martinez picked off Fouad and ran 45 yards for a touchdown as time expired. The pick-six came one play after SJAM’s Will Lennox picked off Cruickshank on the Highlanders’ 40-yard line.
Highlanders head coach Josh Alexander offered a bit of friendly advice for any team that wants to beat the Hawks this fall.
“You’ve got to absorb the first quarter, because they always play at home and they come out flying. You can’t fall behind 14 or 21, because that’s a good football team over there.
“I wish them the best, but we’ll be back to get them. Don’t worry about that, one of these days, they’re going down.”
Pineda opened the scoring on a 25-yard run just two minutes into the game and Carter caught a 35-yard TD pass from Cruickshank just minutes later.
SJAM got on the board when Fouad threw an 18-yard TD pass to Jesse Summer on the final play of the first quarter.
Josh Gilpin dashed down the left side of the field for a 40-yard TD run to make it 21-7 and Cruickshank added a 10-yard TD run just minutes later.
In the late game, Noah Lebar rushed for a six-yard score in overtime to lift the Renegades to victory. Adam Weber had kicked a 24-yard field goal for the Lancers in the opening drive of overtime.
The Central Western Ontario playoffs begin Friday afternoon (2 p.m.) in Owen Sound, where the District 8 champion St. Benedict Saints will take on the Bluewater champion St. Mary’s Mustangs. The winner will host the WCSSAA champion in a CWOSSA semifinal game next Wednesday.
The District 10 (Guelph) champion will meet the Brantford Collegiate Mustangs (District 5) in the other semifinal. The CWOSSA championship will be held Tuesday, Nov. 21, with the winner advancing to the OFSAA Central Bowl on Nov. 28.