Bantams Retain First Place In Over Time Thriller


The Kanata Knights took their Club on the road on September 23 and 24 with four of its teams facing the North Gloucester Giants while the Midget squad played the Colts. The Tykes and Midgets were victorious as was the Bantam team who came from behind late in the game to set up a thriller of a win in overtime.

Tyke

In a back and forth battle that saw the lead exchange hands no less than 6 times, the Kanata Tykes defeated the North Gloucester Tykes 34 – 31. Head Coach Dan Lachance said after the game that “this was definitely the best outing of the season” for his squad.

The offence was led by QB Sam Kronick who completed several passes and has seen his confidence level increasing with each game. TDs were shared among Kronick, Levi Neeson and Mahlon Head. Special mention goes to centre Jake Hams whom coaches consider to be the best centre in the league and Evan Yourth who completed 2 converts.

The defense turned in another stellar effort and held firm on a desperate last minute scrimmage by the Giants. Middle linebacker Kyle King and Logan McKenna anchored the defense which successfully shut down the Giants QB sweep all afternoon.

Mosquito

The Kanata Mosquitos continued to give good effort and played a tough game against the North Gloucester Giants in less than perfect weather and field conditions. Unfortunately on this day, the Giants were a force to be reckoned with, and defeated the Knights 27- 0.

The offence was able to move the ball, and achieved several first downs.  Cassy Aite racked up 78 yards rushing, with 34 in a single run!  John Ladurantaye ran for another 46 yards, and Cameron MacMillan made the only reception for the Knights in this game.

Mitch Graham played hard for the defense, contributing 9 tackles, 1 QB sack and 2 blocked  punts before leaving the game with an injury. Spencer Cates, Mike Zadra, and Evan Swire each had 8 tackles while Seb Rios added another 5.  Zadra also recorded a sack. The following players also made some great tackles: Devin McIntyre, Zack Palmer, David Nguyen, Chase Renaud, Vincent Galea, Zack Andruchow, and Curtis Wagner.

PeeWee

The PeeWee Knights lost to the North Gloucester Giants on a swampy, very windy Gil-O-Julien field.  While the inclement weather made passing and kicking extremely difficult, Ian Boyle played exceptionally well leading the offence with 95 rushing yards including a 60 yard TD run.  Nick Ziai, Brandon Lavery, Matt Oneschuk and David Dunnigan did a great job on the O-line allowing the Knights QBs Sam Lawrence and David Macleod to combine for 40 yards passing in very difficult conditions.

Tyrone Afram led the defense with 10 tackles while Connor Da Costa had a blocked punt and led the defense with 5 tackles including a bone crushing sack with Duncan McCabe. Adam 'the Sauce' Tatar had 6 tackles and Dean Edwards had 3 tackles, a sack, and a blocked punt. Fumbles were recovered by Eric Poulin, David MacLeod and Taylor Jackson.

Bantam

The Bantam Knights proved to be Giant Killers by beating North Gloucester 14-13 in a spectacular, nail-biting, overtime win on a blustery Sunday afternoon in Vanier.  A punt never looked so sweet, as Jordon Singbeil launched one through the end-zone on the last play of O.T. to seal the deal and complete his punting ‘hat-trick’.

You couldn’t ask much more from two undefeated teams battling for first place.  The lead changed hands a number of times and the Giants’ score could have been higher if not for the Knights defense stepping up their game in critical situations.  Jeff O’Hearn interceptions proved to be the slingshot that toppled the Giants’ to the ground. 

It’s tough to mention individuals when a squad comes up with this kind of a team effort.  A superior kicking game, an adaptable offence, timely third down conversions, sensational defensive pressure, superior conditioning and even a little bit of razzle-dazzle (running back Taylor Kuprowski executing the flee-flicker play perfectly to QB Ryan Ireland for a crucial first down in the fourth quarter) all contributed to the Knights’ victory.  They say the good teams seem to win the close games and the Knights did just that to remain the number one ranked Bantam team in the City.

Midget

The Knights Midget team showed the league why they are currently the best team in the league by defeating the Ottawa Colts 38-0.  The Knights played well on both sides of the ball amassing close to 250 yards total offense while the defense picked off 3 Colt passes and recovered 1 fumble.

Corey Armstrong continued to demonstrate his versatility by rushing for 110 yards on 14 carries and scoring 1 rushing and 1 passing TD. Running mate Justin Patenaude also had a great game, rushing for 76 yards, scoring 1 TD, 4 converts and 2 singles. League leading receiver Bill Fletcher continued his torrid receiving pace by catching 4 Mark Packard tosses – 2 of them for TDs.

Leading defensive tacklers were Moe Njau, James Campbell, Colin MacIntyre and Michael Jacobs. The Knights defensive brigade has now recorded 24 turnovers in the first 5 games of the season and is allowing less than 5 points per game.

Next Action

The Kanata Knights Midgets will play the Dukes next Friday night at Millenium Field at 7:30 p.m. and the remaining trams will be back at their home filed at KRC on Sunday beginning at 9:30 a.m. to take on the Myer’s Riders.