Football.
Jamahll Charles (15) and the Franco-Cité Falcons celebrated a touchdown scored against St. Joseph’s defence for the first time this year.
It was a shame either had to lose as both teams played like
champions in the national capital Tier 2 high school senior football final, but
it was the St. Joseph Jaguars that emerged victorious in a 24-16 win over the
Franco-Cité Falcons on Saturday, Nov. 13 at Minto Field.
The Falcons came within one play of having the chance to tie
the game with 16 seconds left but wound up with a narrow defeat at the hands of
the league champions for the second year in a row.
“That’s all we ask of the players,” said Franco-Cité coach
Serge Boisvert, who couldn’t feel at all displeased with the way his team
battled throughout the contest to the very end. “They gave us a great game.”
The final didn’t show the makings of a classic in the early
stages as penalty flags flew on most plays and each team had a touchdown called
back due to infractions.
The score remained 3-3 shortly before halftime until
Franco-Cité’s Jamahll Charles danced through for a punt return touchdown to
give the Falcons a 10-3 lead.
The St. Joseph offence came alive to start the second half
with a pair of majors. First, quarterback Jordan Maxwell hit a wide-open Emmett
Choi for an end zone score, and then runningback Ryan Robillard finished off
the next drive, set up by a 58-yard catch-and-run play by Corey Wright to go
ahead 17-10.
Charles responded for Franco-Cité with a 45-yard TD catch,
but Tyler Bertin and several Jaguars teammates busted through to block the
extra point attempt and maintain a crucial one-point advantage.
It was an entertaining finish to the ball game as both
defences battled back and forth down to the wire. Eventually it was Wright who
again provided the key play en route to the end zone with a 31-yard catch near
the goal line to set up Maxwell’s short plunge for the major and a 24-16 lead
with under two minutes to play.
Thanks to a couple clutch receptions by Charles, Franco-Cité
threatened to tie the score on their final drive. It came down to a third-down
play, and Alvan Julien very nearly tracked down a deep pass from Sébastien
Legros-Poitras in the end zone, but he ended up one step short, along with his
Falcons.
“That was a good team we played against – very athletic,
really well coached,” Jaguars winning coach Mario Panetta commented. “They were
a great team. It was a big challenge for us.”
Boisvert noted that it was a game where every play counted,
and he certainly couldn’t be upset with his players’ efforts against a strong
opponent whose defence hadn’t allowed a single point against it leading up to
the final.
“It was an amazing season,” smiled the coach of the
second-year Falcons, who carry an all-time record of 12-5. “We took those guys
and I think they’re a much better team, and better people too. We went to the
final and they gave it their best. I’m happy with that.”
The Franco-Cité football program, which currently allows
students from other French Catholic board schools to visit for the first
semester at Franco-Cité, recently got approval to continue in the second semester.
That paves the road for the Falcons to train together
year-round and also makes the team eligible to compete in OFSAA provincial
competition and the national capital Tier 1 league since all players will be
full-time students at Franco-Cité.
“That’s going to be good for us,” added Boisvert, whose
school likely had the largest number of fans attend the championship game out
of the six participating teams. “We’ll go play with the big boys next year.”