Slingshot-armed Vaughn quells the Storm
Sir Allan MacNab Lions won the Hamilton public high school football championship Wednesday, setting up a battle of highly-touted quarterbacks next week.
A dominant second half powered MacNab to a 40-17 win over the Saltfleet Storm at Ron Joyce Stadium as the Lions won their second city title in three years.
They’ll now face Caledonia’s McKinnon Park Blue Devils Tuesday at 4 p.m., again at McMaster, in the SOSSA West Challenge with the winner advancing directly to OFSAA in late November at Tim Hortons Field.
The Devils are led by Connor Carusello, who’s committed to Laurier Golden Hawks and also played for Team Ontario.
The Lions will counter with slingshot-armed Quincy Vaughn who is only in Grade 10 but completed 15 of his 19 passes against Saltfleet on Wednesday for 241 yards and two TDs, and ran for a couple of majors himself.
Vaughn put the game away early in the fourth quarter when, starting inside his own 10-yard line, he first hit Eric Faubert on a down-out-down to midfield, then found Jack Moren for a 47-yard score that hiked the Lions’ lead to an insurmountable 33-14.
“We set it up,” Vaughn said of the two passing plays which traversed nearly the length of the field. “It was in the game plan and we executed. The offensive line gave me plenty of protection.”
While the long spirals were the dramatic highlights, the championship turned on a brief string of plays early in the third quarter.
The Storm led 17-14 at the half and appeared to have stopped the Lions’ first drive of the third quarter, but a pass interference call gave MacNab a first down at the one-yard line. Rahim Ajani Moran powered in for the go-ahead TD.
Saltfleet misplayed the ensuing kickoff to give the Lions the ball deep in Storm territory, and Vaughn eventually scored on a sixyard broken field run on third down to complete a 13-point turnaround in less than five minutes.
“The momentum changed in that series,” said MacNab head coach Paul Hitchcock.
“Saltfleet came out with a great game plan, they utilized their best players and they spread them around the formation,” Hitchcock added. “It took us a while to get used to tackling their big running backs.”
Those backs would be Jamahl Burke, with two majors and three kick returns for 153 yards, and heavily-scouted Olivier Muembi, who was on the field for every play, with 49 rushing yards, another 35 in pass receptions, and several thunderous tackles at linebacker.
“We were in the game, but we made small mistakes and it cost us,” said Muembi, who may end up at Mac.
“We weren’t able to be consistent on the ground or in the air, but MacNab was.”
Saltfleet won three straight Division 2 titles before being promoted to Division 1 last year, and making their first final this year. NOTES: The Hamilton Catholic football championship is set for 4 p.m. Thursday at Tim Hortons Field with St. Thomas More meeting Cardinal Newman. Earlier (11:45 a.m.) in the day, Nelson plays Holy Trinity at McMaster for the Halton senior title.