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After picking up a split on the road over the past two weeks, including a heartbreaking loss in Sudbury one week ago, a quick start was essential for the Sault Sabercats varsity team on Saturday afternoon at home.
The team rebounded, opening up a 21-0 lead through one quarter en route to a 42-6 win over the Peterborough Wolverines at Superior Heights in Ontario Summer Football League play.
The start was crucial for the Sabercats in the victory.
“We talked about that this week,” head coach Jamie Antonello said. “Coming off the Sudbury loss, that was an emotional game. We were not disciplined, and we did a lot of things wrong. We had a great week of practice. We wanted to start (today) fast, clean, and execute. We had a lot of guys playing as individuals and we needed to trust. We still weren’t playing as 12 guys on the field. We finally started clicking today.”
Asked what he liked most about the victory, the Sabercats coach was quick to answer.
"Efficiency and that we didn’t take any stupid penalties,” Antonello said. “That was my big focus. Our guys played clean and kept it whistle to whistle. That was a big takeaway. We're kind of in that playoff mentality now. We have to win out the regular season to host a playoff game. That’s the goal right now.”
The Sabercats jumped out to a lead early thanks to a trio of opening-quarter touchdowns.
The locals opened the scoring as Nathan Guizzetti scored on a 53-yard touchdown run just under four minutes into the game. The convert by Nikolas Vecchio made it 7-0.
Just under two minutes later, Grant Matthewson scored on a four-yard touchdown run followed by a convert by Vecchio to make it 14-0.
The locals added to the lead as Varpio hit Al Romano for a five-yard touchdown pass. The convert from Vecchio made it 21-0.
A 17-yard touchdown by Guizzetti 2:32 into the second quarter and convert by Vecchio made it 28-0 and the locals took a 35-0 lead as Varpio hit Jaiden Trudeau for a 21-yard touchdown and Vecchio hit the convert.
Peterborough got on the board as Ethan Smith caught a pass from quarterback Kolby Hubbert. The 71-yard touchdown made it 35-6 heading into the half.
The Sabercats capped off the scoring late as Daikaden Gauthier ran the ball in from 71 yards out and Vecchio hit the extra point as time wound down in the fourth quarter.
Individual stats were not available for the game.
With a 4-2 record, the varsity club returns to action next weekend on the road with a game against the Toronto Jr. Argos before returning home the following week (July 13) to host the Huronia Stallions to wrap up regular season play.
In Saturday’s junior varsity game, a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter were the difference as the Quinte Skyhawks beat the Sabercats 21-10.
Turnovers at critical times played a role for the JV Sabercats in the loss.
“We got into a little bit of a funk there on offence. We started out really well,” said JV Sabercats coach Jim Monico, who filled in as head coach for Will Basawa. “We challenged the O-line to be physical and we came out really physical. Then we got off of it late and we weren’t really physical. We tried to force some things in the run and pass game an that didn’t work.”
“All-in-all, I didn’t think the effort was good enough,” Monico added.
Monico felt the game started slipping away midway through the third quarter.
“Ultimately, the problem was in the fourth quarter, but we were headed that way,” Monico said. “It was starting to slip away from us. We’re better than we played today.”
“(In the third quarter), we were starting to give up some stuff on defence,” Monico also said. “And our offence, we weren’t running as well anymore and tried to force the ball in the air a little bit.”
The Sabercats got on the board first as A.J. Coccimiglio punched the ball in from 11 yards out and then kicked the extra point to give the locals a 7-0 lead midway through the opening quarter.
In the late stages of the opening quarter, Quinte tied the game at seven thanks to a 20-yard touchdown pass by Skyhawks quarterback Darian Montverde-Sala to receiver Max Waplak. The convert by Connor Kokonas made it a 7-7 game.
Coccimiglio gave the Sabercats the lead before the half thanks to a 26-yard field goal in the est second quarter, giving the home side a 10-7 lead.
After a scoreless third quarter, Quinet took the lead early in the fourth quarter as Monteverde-Sala hit Marko Fobert for a 33-yard pass and run for a touchdown. The subsequent convert by Kokonas made it 14-10 Quinte.
Quinte capped off the scoring thanks to a 21-yard touchdown run by Monteverde-Sala late in the game. The convert by Kokonos made it a 21-10 final.
With two games remaining in the regular season, Monico agreed that the Sabercats have something to prove as the regular season winds down.
“We were thinking (early on) that we were amongst that group of the best teams in the league,” Monico said. “But we haven’t proven that.”
“We have to be better (in the last two regular season games),” Monico added.
“We have the talent to do it,” Monico also said.
Full stats for the game were not available.
The JV team will take a 3-3 record on the road next weekend against Peterborough before returning home to host the Toronto Jr. Argos in the final game of the regular season.