Saints Football Open Season with Dominant Win

St. Clair Saints Win Season Opener in Ottawa to Move to 1-0

Ottawa, ON – A dominant first half by the Saints helped them cruise to their first victory of the 2023 season. After beating the Ottawa Sooners by a score of 30-4.

The Saints defense lived up to the hype in the season opener as they did not allow the Sooners to move the ball effectively throughout the game. The first Ottawa possession ended like most with a punt in the hands of Tai Colquhoun (Windsor, ON) who opened the season with a 27-yard punt return to put the Saints in immediate scoring position. It didn't take long for fans to see what Freshman WR Darius France (Windsor, ON) can do, as he leaped over a Sooners defender to win a 44-yard jump ball thrown by QB Matt Guenette (Windsor, ON) putting the Saints on the 2-yard line. The drive was capped off with WR Javier Lewis (Toronto, ON) scoring the first Touchdown of the 2023 season.

The offense continued to click in the first quarter as Running Back M.J. Doyle-Marshall (Airdrie, AB) made the score 14-0 with a 10-yard rushing touchdown. Four minutes later Javier Lewis finished off another drive with his second rushing touchdown of the game, this saw the Saints take a 21-0 lead into the second quarter.

The second quarter started just like the first ended, this time Javier Lewis broke multiple tackles to get into the end zone for a 41-yard touchdown pass from QB Maurice Sodja (Louisville, Kentucky, USA) giving the Saints a 28-0 lead. The Quarterback position was split throughout the game, Sodja finished the day going 6 for 11 with 106 passing yards with one touchdown, he also finished as the games leading rusher with 44 yards on only 3 carries. Guenette was almost near perfect as he finished the game 4 for 5 with 103 passing yards. Lewis left his mark on the game finishing with 3 receptions for 77 yards and a touchdown while adding the 2 rushing touchdowns as well. The Saints ground attack was spread out as they had 10 different ball carriers accumulating 156 rushing yards.

A very slow second half for both teams' offense saw 5 points scored throughout the half. The Saints defense held strong all day, holding the Sooners to 60 passing yards and 29 rushing yards, while only allowing 6 first downs all game. The defense was led by second year Defensive End Mo Ibraheem (Etobicoke, ON) who recorded 2 tackles, a sack and a tackle for loss. While Running Back turned Defensive End Carl Fabre (Windsor, ON) had a strong game registering 4 tackles. Freshman DB Tylin Davis (Windsor, ON) saw his college career start with a bang, as he recorded 3 tackles and capped his day off with a highlight reel one handed interception.

The Saints (1-0) hit the road again as they travel to London to take on rival Beefeaters (2-0) this Saturday, August 26^th at City Wide Sports Park kick-off is set for 5:00pm.