THUNDER BAY – Never count out the St. Ignatius Falcons.
Never can’t be emphasized strongly enough after the high school senior football team mounted a near miraculous comeback on Friday afternoon, storming back from 21 points down with just over three minutes to play to eke out an improbable 36-35 win over the Westgate Tigers.
The Falcons (2-2-2), who had no real answer for Westgate quarterback Mitchell Papineau in the first half, were down 35-14 when they innocuously took over the ball on their own 43-yardline, looking like a team that was going to take a losing record into the Superior Secondary Schools Athletic Association postseason, and hope for the best.
Even Lucas Dupuis, the St. Ignatius quarterback, had his doubts, when his team gave up a pair of Tigers touchdowns in the third and trailed 28-14 heading into the final frame, only to have Westgate’s Andrew Romeo find the end zone from one yard out, his fourth major of the evening.
It wasn’t looking good, Dupuis said.
Then again, with nothing to lose, the pressure was off.
With the Tigers bench on the field, Dupuis, who would finish the match going 12-for-19 for 219 yards with a pair of touchdowns and just enough power to muscle over the goal line with no time on the clock for the game-winning two-point conversion, found Gunnar White for a seven-yard scoring pass that cut the gap to 35-21, just 3:01 remaining on the clock.
The Falcons went for the onside kick and Nolan Poirier simply ripped the ball from the hands of Westgate’s Griffin Hlady.
It appeared to be all for naught after Dupuis’s third-down pass fell to the ground, but a holding penalty against the Tigers kept the drive alive at the Westgate 38.
Dupuis handed the ball off to Alexandro Iossa, who raced for the right sidelines, found a seam and tore down the field, unstopped on the way to the house, pulling the Falcons to within a converted touchdown of tying the match.
The clock wasn’t on their side.
A second onside kick failed and the Tigers (3-3-0)got the ball back on the Falcons 50. They could only muster eight yards on two rushes and punted the ball, giving the Falcons one last shot at the win column, the ball placed on the St. Ignatius 24.
Dupuis, after taking a sack that left the Falcons three yards behind the line of scrimmage, called his own number and scampered 14 yards to move the chains, then took to the air.
White made a spectacular sideline catch for 31 yards and followed it with another brilliant grab at the Tigers three, giving Dupuis one last chance.
He rose to the occasion, finding a wide-open Bradley Wehrstedt to make it 35-34, then plowed through the waiting Tigers D to score the two-point convert and secure the win, a preview of one of two senior semifinals slated for next Friday at Fort William Stadium.
Papineau was 20-for-26 for 218 yards and two touchdowns, hitting Cole McVety for a three-yard score early in the first and Romeo from 15 yards out for a second that gave the Tigers a 14-7 lead at the time.
The Hammarskjold Vikings will take on St. Patrick in the other semifinal, a team they beat 36-0 on Friday night.
