Saints advance
St. Benedict defeats Resurrection, will face St. David
Josh Nikolic looked across the football field as the visitors boarded the team bus with their heads held high.
The St. Benedict Saints’ fifthyear receiver acknowledged his team was pushed to the limit Tuesday in a 15-12 playoff victory over the short-handed Resurrection Phoenix. With the win, the Saints advance to Friday night’s District 8 senior football final against the St. David Celtics in a rematch of last year’s championship game.
“Unfortunately, they’ve lost a few players along the way but the guys here today gave it everything they had,” said Nikolic.
“You never expect to have an easy game against Resurrection, no matter how many players they have.”
The Saints and Phoenix both scored a pair of first-half touchdowns on a chilly afternoon at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School.
Saints quarterback Andy Horscroft threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Avery O’Hare and an 11-yard strike to Nikolic to account for most of his team’s scoring. Resurrection’s touchdowns came on a 26-yard run by London Dawson and a 15-yard pass from receiver Jaxon Matcheski to Nick Henning.
Saints kicker Jack Ceccomanni converted both touchdowns while Resurrection was unsuccessful in both attempts. That, and a 29-yard punt single by Horscroft, provided the Saints with their margin of victory.
Resurrection, which has been hit hard by injuries and departures, had just 19 of 34 roster players dressed against St. Benedict and several were lined up at positions they had never attempted before.
Brady Grosz took the majority of snaps at quarterback, filling in for the injured Jake Bilitz, and did an admirable job leading an offence that relied almost exclusively on the running game. Resurrection’s first pass attempt didn’t come until the midway point of the second quarter and that failed try travelled less than a yard past the line of scrimmage.
Resurrection’s Boyd Parker also did an admirable job while playing centre for the first time.
“Honestly, they’re a wonderful bunch of guys and we played our hearts out today,” said Johnson.
“We had to overcome a lot of adversity and we came up short. That’s how it goes sometimes.”
Nikolic is one of 12 fifth-year players on the St. Benedict roster that will be looking for payback in Friday night’s D8 final at Warrior Field. St. David scored a 31-28 win in last year’s final and went on to reach the Central Western Ontario final against the Jacob Hespeler Hawks.
The Celtics and Saints split their regular-season meetings this season, just as they did last year, with St. Benedict winning 33-14 on Oct. 19 and St. David winning 48-9 on Sept. 28.
“The fifth-year guys came back to give our coach (Joe Vale) a championship banner and that’s what we’re all playing for,” said Nikolic.
“The past is the past and that doesn’t matter now. We’re going to give 100 per cent on Friday and hope that’s all we can do.”
Horscroft echoed his teammate’s comments, saying Friday’s final will come down to which team executes its game plan best.
“We played all right today but we have a bunch of stuff to fix in the next two days,” he said. “We’ll be ready for Friday.”
The Waterloo County (WCSSAA) playoffs begin Thursday with four games on the schedule.
At St. David, Preston faces Grand River at 5 p.m., followed by Elmira and Waterloo Collegiate at 7 p.m. At Jacob Hespeler, it’s Waterloo-Oxford against Jacob Hespeler at 5 p.m. and Huron Heights vs. Sir John A. Macdonald at 7 p.m.