Saints Handle Rival Beefeaters, Move to First Place in OFC

London, ON – A rematch of the 2021 and 2022 OFC Championship took place on Saturday at City Wide Sports Park in London where the SSAA and Saints Nation saw the Saints defeat rival Beefeaters 33-17. With the win the Saints move to 2-0 and first place in the Ontario Football Conference.

The Saints defense have held their opponents to a scoreless first half for the second week in a row. The defense was led by Linebacker Keewone Parker (Lansing, Michigan, USA) who registered 4 tackles, 4 assisted tackles, a forced fumble and fumble recovery. He was helped by position mate Nick Brajkovic (Windsor, ON) who had 4 tackles and 7 assisted tackles. The Saints D-Line was a constant problem for the Beefeaters Offensive Line as Carl Fabre (Windsor, ON) and Mo Ibraheem (Etobicoke, ON) continuously got pressure on the Quarterback. Both players registered a sack and multiple QB pressures. The secondary for the Saints were once again dominant allowing only 58 passing yards, this is back-to-back weeks now that the secondary has allowed under 60 passing yards. Led by All-Canadian Defensive Backs Nate Norton (Windsor, ON) and Billy Patterson Jr. (Windsor, ON).

A slow start for the offense saw a classic Canadian football score on the board as the Saints led 1-0 after one quarter. The offense started clicking halfway through the second quarter as Quarterback Maurice Sodja (Louisville, Kentucky, USA) hit Wideout Darius France (Windsor, ON) for another highlight reel catch over a Beefeaters defender, this time for his first career collegiate touchdown. With only minutes left in the half Sodja then hit WR Zack Burmaster (Hamilton, ON) for a 25-yard touchdown pass, who led the Saints in receiving yards finishing the day with 4 receptions for 104 yards. A conceited safety by the Beefeaters had the Saints up 17-0 at the half.

The first few minutes of the second half did not go the Saints way as London crawled back into the game with a pair of rushing touchdowns seeing the Beefeaters within 3. The score held at 17-14 for most of the third quarter until Sodja broke off a few big runs to put the Saints in scoring position, the drive was capped off with a 2-yard touchdown run by Javier Lewis (Toronto, ON). Sodja's playmaking ability was on display, as he had a game high 89 rushing yards on 8 attempts. The game was put out of reach late in the fourth quarter when Sodja hit Lewis for a 10-yard touchdown reception, giving the Saints a 33-17 victory. Sodja finished the game throwing 11 for 17 and 255 passing yards. Meanwhile, Javier Lewis now has 5 total touchdowns in the first two games of the season.

The rematch between the Saints and the Beefeaters will not have a long wait as the highly anticipated home opener at Acumen Stadium will be this Saturday, September 2^nd against London. Gate will open at 5:00pm and kick-off is set for 7:00pm.