#2 Ranked Saints Defeat #4 Ranked Beefeaters in Thriller

London, ON – The St. Clair Saints Football team travelled to City Wide Sports Park Saturday afternoon where they defeated the former OFC Champions, London Beefeaters by a score of 26-18. This gives the Saints sole possession of first place in the Ontario Football Conference and remain undefeated in the regular season with a record of 4-0.

The wait for the rematch of the OFC Final was over, as the two nationally ranked programs took the field for another edition of the 401 rivalry. London started the scoring within the first two minutes of the game on a 25-yard field goal to give the Beefeaters an early 3-0 lead. For the next 10 plus minutes, both teams defense dominated the field trading field position until the Saints tied the game up, three a piece with 1:38 to go in the first quarter on a Preston Knight (Leamington, ON) 23-yard field goal.

The second quarter was much of the same as both defenses continued to get timely stops. The Saints and Beefeaters defense was bending but not breaking, as the only score in the quarter came on a Beefeaters 36-yard field goal with 4:12 left in the second quarter, which gave London a 6-3 lead heading into halftime. The Saints were led by two veteran Linebackers, Nick Brajkovic (Windsor, ON) who led the Saints with 7 tackles and Josh Allen (Windsor, ON) who had 6 tackles of his own.

The Saints received the ball to start the second half and wasted no time getting on the scoreboard thanks to Dante Lewis (Windsor, ON) who took an end around hand off to the endzone for a 62-yard touchdown run. This gave the Saints their first lead of the game 10-6. London wasted no time getting back on the board as they punched in from the goal line giving them a 13-10 lead with 12:28 left in the third quarter. Both defenses bounced back after the shaky second half start and held strong for the next 10 minutes until the Saints marched down the field and finished the drive with a Preston Knight 19-yard field goal to tie the game 13-13 to end the third.

As the fourth quarter went on, the Saints rushing attack continued to get stronger thanks to great running back depth and the offensive line winning the battle in the trenches. Running back M.J. Doyle-Marshall (Airdrie, AB) broke off multiple first down runs which led to him finishing the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run and giving the Saints a 19-13 lead after a blocked extra point attempt. Doyle-Marshall finished the game with 121 yards on 15 carries while running mate Kian Voakes (Essex, ON) had a strong performance going 93 yards on 13 carries.

London brought the game within three on a 22-yard field goal, and two minutes later the Beefeaters defense got a huge safety with 2:22 left in the fourth making the score 19-18 in favour of the Saints. On the next Beefeaters possession, the Saints defense came up big only allowing London to pick up 8 yards and forcing them into a turnover on downs. Moments later, Quarterback Andrew Brush (Kitchener, ON) ran in a 1-yard touchdown to give the Saints a 26-18 lead with 26 seconds left in the game. With time expiring London heaved a Hail Mary down field in desperation to tie the game, but defensive back Steven Guenette (Windsor, ON) sealed the win with the interception.

The Saints and the Beefeaters will be right back at it again this Saturday, September 10^th at Acumen Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7:00pm with the gates opening at 5:00pm and the first 1000 fans will receive a free white t-shirt courtesy of the Saints Student Athletic Association.

See some notes below from the game.

EVENT:          St. Clair Saints @ London Beefeaters

DATE/TIME:  Sat, Sept. 3^rd (5:00pm)

LOCATION:   City Wide Sports Park

RESULT:       St. Clair (4-0) defeated London (3-1) by a score of 26-18.