Fratmen Fall in Final Minutes of OFC Final

Windsor, ON – The St. Clair Fratmen (9-1) were not able to hold on down the stretch losing the Ontario Football Conference Championship game at Acumen Stadium Saturday night by a score of 15-14 to the London Beefeaters (8-2). 

A tight defensive struggle from the start produced little offence in the first half and a scoreless first quarter.  St. Clair did get placekicker Jake Holloway (Franklin, Tennessee) in position for a 26-yard field goal to put the game's first points on the board at the 9:13 mark of the second quarter.  The Fratmen took that slim lead into the halftime intermission as the teams were primarily committed to a ground attack and short passing plays. 

With 6:50 left in the third quarter St. Clair pinned London deep where they conceded a safety that increased the Fratmen advantage to 5-0 heading to the final frame.  After a 5-play 48-yard drive and taking advantage of good field position Dante Lewis (Windsor, ON) was able to get loose in the endzone where Michael Beale (LaSalle, ON) was able to connect with him for a 4-yard touchdown pass.  Following a Holloway convert St. Clair's lead grew to 12-0 with 11:18 remaining. 

The Beefeaters conceded a safety with 2:52 left in what seemed like a comfortable 14-0 lead for St. Clair.  However, on the next Fratmen possession a stalled drive resulted in a bad snap over the head of punter Holloway who was unable to come up with the loose ball in the endzone allowing London to recover.  After a successful convert suddenly, the lead was cut to 14-7. 

St. Clair could not sustain their next drive punting the ball back to London with 1:06 left and two passing plays later London was in the endzone with the game tied 14-14 following the made PAT. 

London then forced a fumble by the Fratmen kickoff returner which set up a punt rouge attempt with just two seconds left in the contest.  The Beefeater punter was just able to clear the back of the endzone from about the 18-yard line to decide the final score as time expired.

St. Clair's Savoni finished with 79 yards rushing on 24 carries while receiver Cody Holmes (Windsor, ON) secured 3 catches for 46 yards.  Jared Hayes-Williams (Windsor, ON) and Lewis each also had 3 receptions for 34 and 35 yards respectively for the Fratmen.  Beale completed 12 of 26 throws for 151 yards with the one touchdown but was picked off 3 times with one immediately fumbled back to St. Clair.

Linebacker Braeden MacDougall (Windsor, ON) had a fine game defensively for the Fratmen recording 7 solo tackles with another 2 assisted and added a quarterback sack.  Defensive back Tenoa Alex (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) had one of his best games of the season for St. Clair with 3 tackles with 2 for losses to go with a fumble recovery along with a pair of pass breakups. 

Holloway converted the lone Framen touchdown and made the 26-yard field goal but missed left from 35 yards and hit the crossbar from 48 yards.