Highlanders erupt in win over Lancers
WATERLOO — The Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders have been good and they’ve also been bad.
On Friday afternoon against the visiting Elmira Lancers, they were most definitely the former.
SJAM quarterback Ahmed Fouad tossed touchdown passes to Cam Steinbach, Jarrett King and Sam Valentine and the Highlanders downed the Lancers 27-2 in Waterloo County (WCSSAA) senior football play. Ty Davis added a rushing score for the Highlanders, who improved to 2-2 on the season. Elmira, which couldn’t get much of anything going on offence, dropped to 2-2.
“The team that came out today was the real SJAM, we’ve got a good group of guys that are working to get better each and every day,” said Fouad.
“Last week was a tough loss but we bounced back and showed we can play with the big dogs of this league.”
Highlanders suffered a meltdown in a 27-21 overtime loss to Waterloo-Oxford Crusaders last week and lost 31-1 to the Grand River Renegades a week earlier. SJAM opened the campaign with a 42-0 win over Galt Ghosts.
SJAM and Elmira were involved in a defensive battle Friday — the Highlanders led 7-2 at halftime — until a third-quarter play changed everything.
Lancers running back Tyler Martin, who was having an outstanding game, ran for 37 yards up the middle but had the football stripped from behind by Valentine. Carter Smith pounced on the loose ball and the Highlanders took over at their own 35-yard line.
Fouad connected with Valentine for a 32-yard pass-and-run on the first offensive play after the fumble recovery and Davis rumbled for a 43-yard touchdown on the ensuing play.
Two snaps and 75 yards later, SJAM jumped into a 13-2 lead.
Fouad threw a perfect pass to King on Highlanders’ next possession that ended up being a 60-yard TD pass and, just like that, the lead was 20-2 and the close game was no more.
Valentine rounded out the scoring on the first play of the fourth quarter by hauling in a 23-yard TD pass.
Lancers head coach Steve Karn stressed the importance of better attendance at practice following the game and Martin said that was the major reason behind his team’s poor offensive showing.
“We definitely need to get a few more guys out to practice next week and execute better than we did today,” said Martin, who rushed for four touchdowns last week.
“We’re definitely a better team than what we showed today.”
The Highlanders close out the regular-season portion of their schedule with games against the Glenview Park Panthers and Bluevale Knights and Fouad is optimistic his team can win them both and ride a wave of momentum into the playoffs. The Jacob Hespeler Hawks and Waterloo Vikings currently top the standings with 4-0 records but Fouad isn’t about to concede anything.
“We want to win the league. Our best players are up there, we think, with the best players in the area,” he said.
“Jacob has a deep team, they have numbers, and WCI has a very good player in Bryce Scarrow, but I like what we’ve got. I wouldn’t trade my team for anyone else’s.”
SJAM, which had only 23 players Friday, opened the scoring on its first offensive possession of the game when Fouad threw a nineyard pass to Steinbach.
Elmira has remaining games with Waterloo-Oxford and Glenview Park.
Elsewhere Grand River received touchdowns from Nic Andreotte, Brigg Medensky, Daniel Lieu and Noah Lebar in a 31-7 win over Waterloo-Oxford.