Knights bowled over by another OFSAA victory
Holy Names makes it back-to-back titles after knocking off Newmarket opponent
There was no secret to the Holy Names Knights’ success in Tuesday’s OFSAA football Northern Bowl in Ottawa.
While the Newmarket Huron Heights Warriors used a threeman backfield that offered a series of misdirection plays, the Knights turned to Michael Herzog and leaned on the senior running back. Shaking off an early touchdown by the Warriors, the Knights rallied behind Herzog, who raced for 235 yards on 20 carries and scored three touchdowns in a 24-12 win over the Warriors at TD Place Stadium.
“All thanks to my blockers,” the 18-year-old Herzog said of his offensive line of Matt Masschelle, Liam Tomes, Dominic Price, Christian Fecteau and Quinn Donaldson. “The blocking today was absolutely incredible.”
It was the second straight OFSAA Bowl title for the Knights, who beat top-ranked London South in the Western Bowl last year. “For the program to go back to back, that’s a big deal,” Knights defensive end Devin Veresuk said. “Once you win one, there are crazy high expectations. And when you meet them again, you’re here to stay and we met those expectations.”
Holy Names found itself in an early hole when the Warriors drove the field to open the scoring on the team’s second possession, but missed the extra point to go up 6-0.
“These kids are a great group, they never get too high or too low,” said Knights head coach Rob McIntyre, whose team trailed by 10 points at the half in last year’s final and rallied to win. “Last year, we were down and these guys know teams are going to score. They know it’s a long game and our mantra is to win the next play.” Tylar Johnston got the Knights on the board with a 52-yard punt single and the five-foot-nine, 185-pound Herzog gave Holy Names its first lead with less than five minutes left in the half with a 52-yard touchdown run. Quarterback Jake Heydon hit Theo Johnson for the two-point convert to put the Knights up 9-6 at the half. “Last year, it was our first time ever winning OFSAA,” Herzog said. “This year, we kind of came with a lot more confidence and we knew what we needed to do.” Veresuk recovered an onside kick to start the second half that led to a 42-yard punt single by Johnson to put the Knights up 10-6 in the opening two minutes of the second half.
Making some adjustments, the Knights stopped the Warriors on third down at the Holy Names 38yard line to force a turnover on downs.
“We played L’Essor and (Sarnia) Northern and they have a similar offence,” the six-foot-two, 220-pound Veresuk said. “We just made some technique changes.” The Knights cashed in the turnover with Herzog scoring on a fiveyard run and Mike Pizzutti adding the convert for a 17-6 lead. Huron Heights, ranked No. 12 in the country by CanadaFootballChat, drove the field to score a touchdown, but missed the twopoint convert to make it 17-12. But the Knights, who are ranked No. 5 nationally, answered with a two-play touchdown drive that featured 29- and 34-yard runs by Herzog. Pizzutti converted for a 24-12 lead. “I have confidence in my team and myself that we could come through with the win,” Herzog said. “I’ve been playing with those guys since Grade 9 and most of the team since I was 11 or 12 (years old), so there’s a really good chemistry.
“I don’t want to sound cocky, but I believe in my brothers and that drive was one of those ones where you can try and stop us, but we’ll answer quickly.”
For the program to go back to back, that’s a big deal. Once you win one, there are crazy high expectations.
Veresuk recovered a fumble at the Holy Names 24-yard line to end a Warriors scoring threat and the Newmarket team, which threw the ball just two times in the game, showed no ability to put the ball in the air and simply ran out of time. “It was awesome going out with a bang by winning OFSAA back to back,” Herzog said. “Coming back last year and beating the No. 1 team, it made us a huge target, but that’s exactly what we like. It makes the win that much sweeter.”