Steelers advance to NFC semis

It wasn’t as convincing as some of their late season wins, but the Sault Steelers handled the Toronto Raiders quite easily on Saturday night.

The Steelers defeated the Raiders 33-6 to advance in the Northern Football Conference playoffs at Rocky DiPietro Field. The win propels the Steelers into the second round of the playoffs.

The Steelers jumped on the Raiders early as Joe Thorburn picked off an errant Crispin Warner pass and ran the ball 27 yards for a touchdown just 1:16 in. A safety just over two minutes later increased the lead to 9-0. Josh Gauthier ran the ball in from one yard out to give the locals a 16-0 lead heading into the second quarter.

A four-yard run by Gauthier and a 14-yard field goal by Dan Swystun gave the Steelers a 26-0 lead heading into halftime.

Dan Leduc capped off the Steelers scoring in the third quarter with a 47-yard touchdown catch from Travis McLean late in the quarter. Andy Taylor, who was Toronto’s most successful receiver all day, scored the lone Raiders touchdown just over five minutes into the fourth quarter. The Raiders attempted a two-point convert but failed.

Thorburn finished the night with a pair of interceptions, one of which was returned for the early first quarter touchdown, along with a fumble recovery defensively. Mark Porco chipped in defensively with 3.5 tackles.

Offensively Josh Gauthier finished the night with 66 yards rushing on 13 carries to go along with his two touchdowns. Leduc led the Steelers receiving corps with 63 yards and a touchdown on two catches. Quarterback Travis McLean finished the night completing 10 of 20 passes for 121 yards.

Warner threw for 144 yards by completing seven of 30 passes in the loss for the Raiders. Andy Taylor led the Raiders receiving with 77 yards while Steve Lubin ran for 30 yards.

The game was called with 1:37 left by the officials as things got chippy in the latter stages of the fourth quarter.

In other NFC playoff action on Saturday night the Oshawa Hawkeyes defeated the Sarnia Imperials 50-6; and the Oakville Longhorns toppled the North Bay Bulldogs 41-12. The score of the Tri-City Outlaws game against the Toronto Maddogs was unavailable at the time of writing. A Tri-City win would send the Steelers to Oshawa to take on the Hawkeyes next week while a Maddogs win would see the Steelers host the Longhorns at Rocky DiPietro field next Saturday. Details will be posted when they become available.