Hawks soar to yet another WCSSAA title
The dynasty continues at Jacob Hespeler
CAMBRIDGE — On paper, the Jacob Hespeler Hawks compete in the Waterloo County Secondary School Athletics Association senior boys football league.
Truth be told, the hugely successful program is operating in a league of its own.
The Hawks, to the surprise of absolutely no one, rolled to their sixth consecutive WCSSAA championship on a chilly Saturday afternoon at Jacob Hespeler Secondary School with a 37-7 victory over the gritty but overmatched Elmira Lancers.
Grade 11 quarterback Joel Watson tossed four first-half touchdown passes for the champions, who led 34-0 at halftime and played like they were content with that margin in the second half. The Hawks advance to a Central Western Ontario (CWOSSA) semifinal game Thursday afternoon against the North Park Trojans of Brantford, who defeated the Assumption College Lions 20-13 in overtime in Saturday’s District 5 championship.
“This is nice, it’s what we expected and it’s exactly what we wanted, but there’s a lot more work to do to get where we want to be,” said Jacob Hespeler running back Xavier Pineda, the league’s reigning MVP.
“We really, really focus on details and if we’re not nitpicky with how we play, any team can knock us off. We’re a good football team but we work hard in practice to get better, we do the things championship teams do. We don’t just show up and assume it’s going to happen.”
The Hawks wrapped up another undefeated WCSSAA season with a 7-0 regular-season and playoff record, outscoring opponents 322-39 along the way. Those numbers don’t reflect the team’s dominance as most of their games were over early and starters made way for backups when the outcome was a fait accompli.
Some would suggest the Hawks are simply too good for the WCSSSA league, but Jacob Hespeler head coach Greg White is quick to remind those people it took two decades to win the first championship after several near misses and heartache that goes along with it. The Hawks lost two consecutive WCSSAA finals before starting their current streak in 2013 with a 23-16 win over the Resurrection Phoenix.
Jacob Hespeler hasn’t lost a WCSSAA game since.
“We’re obviously on a little bit of a run right now, but it was 18 years before we made it to the WCSSAA final and there were times Hatter (late Jacob Hespeler teacher/coach Mark Hatt) and I were wondering if we were ever going to that thing,” said White.
“We had our hearts broken by Bluevale, we had our hearts broken by WCI, and we had our hearts broken by (Cameron Heights running back) Tyler Varga before we finally made it.”
The Hawks were in control from the start of the WCSSAA final and took the early lead on a 23-yard field goal by Jack Buchhaupt.
Jacob Hespeler’s explosive offence picked up the pace after that and the defence did its part by putting a lid on Elmira’s running game. Jacob Hespeler was ahead 24-0 in the second quarter before the Lancers finally recorded a first down on a run by Josh Runstedler.
Watson tossed first-half touchdown passes to Pineda (31 yards), Elijah Cruickshank (72 yards) and Quinn Robertson (three and 25 yards) before Buchhaupt closed out the first-half scoring with a 29-yard field goal.
Buchhaupt added his third field goal of the game from 17 yards to make it 37-0.
Elmira’s lone touchdown came
on a one-yard run by Tyler Martin on a third-down play. The Lancers were competing in their first championship final after 13 seasons in the WCSSAA league, a fact which made the outcome so much easier to deal with.
Lancers head coach Steve Karn was upbeat after his postgame address, saying his team’s goal was to play in a WCSSAA final for the first time and that’s exactly what was accomplished. The Lancers got to the final with a 7-6 win over the WCI Vikings, a game that was decided with 19 seconds to play on a Jake Gingrich touchdown reception.
“Everyone in the league will say the same thing, the championship is the week before you play Jacob Hespeler. They’re the team right now … but I do believe it will eventually turn around, although it might not happen any time soon,” said Karn with a smile.
“The bottom line is my guys are happy with their season. We lost in the semifinals last year in overtime against Grand River, so a bunch of those kids came back for one reason, to play in a WCSSAA final. And they did that.”
The Hawks have 13 fifth-year players on their roster and many of those players were at their best against Elmira. White mentioned receivers Aidan Carter, Robertson and Cruickshank as his offensive standouts, along with Pineda out of the backfield. On defence, the likes of Riley Forbes, Thomas Bloomfield and Logan Hall were at the top of their games.
For all their successes at the WCSSAA level, the big prize continues to elude the Hawks.
Jacob Hespeler has played in two consecutive OFSAA championships but has yet to win a provincial title, losing in 2016 to the A.N. Myer Marauders of Niagara Falls and dropping a 29-25 heartbreaker to Mississauga’s Lorne Park Spartans last year.
The CWOSSA champion will take on the St. Michael’s Kerry Blues of Toronto’s in the Nov. 28 OFSAA Central Bowl in Ottawa and the Hawks would like nothing more than an opportunity to prove the third time really is the charm.
The District 8 champion Resurrection Phoenix face the St. James Lions of Guelph in Thursday’s other CWOSSA semifinal, with the winners meeting Nov. 25 at Jacob Hespeler.