Ravens help lift Ontario to football win
Team Ontario, which features six players from the Essex Ravens, is headed to the medal round at the Football Canada Cup under-18 championship in Wolfville, N.S.
Third-seeded Ontario scored with just under three minutes to play to rally for a 17-16 win over host and sixth-seeded Team Nova Scotia on Saturday in quarter-final play.
A pair of Ravens dominated on defence with defensive back Matt Williams leading all Ontario players with six solo tackles. Defensive tackle Christian Fecteau also had a big game with four tackles, a forced fumble and 2.5 sacks that totalled 14 yards in losses.
Defensive back Tylar Johnston also had a tackle for Ontario with Ravens slot receiver Justin Pope, linebacker Jethro Oleko and linebacker James Hanlon also competing.
Saturday’s win sets up a rematch for Ontario against second-seeded Saskatchewan in the semifinals on Tuesday at 4 p.m. Saskatchewan beat Ontario 12-10 in last year’s semifinal.
The winner of Tuesday’s game will head to the gold-medal game while the loser will play for the bronze medal.
INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S GAMES
Area athletes picked up five swimming medals at the 51st International Children’s Games in Kaunus City, Lithuania.
The Windsor team of Madelyn Gatrall, Julia Marcuzzi, Tressa Billson and Isidora Sekaric won the silver medal in the girls’ 4x100metre freestyle relay in a time of 4:06.25.
Gatrall finished the meet, for swimmers aged 12 to 15, with four medals. She won a silver medal in the 200-metre backstroke in 2:24.68 and bronze medals in the 50-metre backstroke, in 30.86, and the 100-metre backstroke, in 1:06.09.
Brendan Oswald won a silver medal in the 200-metre backstroke in 2:11.67 and teamed with Trenton Baker, Matthew Kwong and Quinn Degraff to finish fourth in the 4x100-metre freestyle relay in 3:49.62.
TFC STARS GRAB WIN
The Windsor TFC Stars picked up its first win since May 21 with a 3-2 road decision over the North Toronto Nitros on Sunday in League 1 Ontario men’s soccer action.
Toronto (6-3-2) came into the game boasting the best offence in the Eastern Conference averaging 2.7 goals per game, but Windsor (3-4-4) jumped to a three-goal lead before conceding a pair of late goals to the Nitros in the game’s final five minutes.
Noah Pio put the TFC Stars up 1-0 at the half with a goal in the 45th minute and Kyle Ruggaber stretched the lead to 2-0 with a goal in the 54th minute. Mike Pio pushed the lead to 3-0 with a goal in the 70th minute and that was enough to carry Windsor to victory.
ROGUES FALL TO NORFOLK
The second-place Windsor Rogues dropped a 33-25 decision to the first-place Norfolk Harvesters on the road on Saturday in Niagara Rugby Union Men’s B Division action.
Scott Murphy, Peter Oomen and Patrick Manyewe each scored tries for the Rogues (4-1-0) while Bryant Spencer had two conversation kicks and two penalty kicks against the Harvesters (5-0-0).