THUNDER BAY – The wind was whipping and a steady stream of rain made the field a little slick and the football even slicker.
The weather just added another obstacle for two teams battling it out for top spot in the high school junior football standings, the St. Ignatius Falcons looking to continue their unbeaten run, the Hammarskjold Vikings to make a pre-playoff statement and maybe grab the No. 1 seed to boot.
Thanks to the throwing arm of quarterback Justin Coulombe, who fired up a pair of passing touchdowns, it was the Falcons who prevailed, downing the Vikings 24-1 in a contest where offence was at a premium, dropped balls were a problem and the St. Ignatius defence stood tall.
Coulombe hit receiver Carson Height for a 32-yard scoring scamper on the first play of the second quarter and tight end Ethan Mann midway through the fourth for a 39-yard major, the Falcons taking top spot at 4-0-0 as the regular season came to a conclusion at Fort William Stadium on Thursday night.
“I just have great athletes to throw the ball to,” Coulombe said.
“They always make sure they’re open and in the right spot and that makes my job easy.”
Earning top spot and continuing their quest for an unbeaten season, not to mention becoming the playoff favourites and staying on pace to capture a second straight junior football championship, is right where St. Ignatius wanted to be, Coulombe said.
“It was very important. If we lose this game, I’m pretty sure Hammarskjold gets the No. 1 seed and they’re going to the playoffs feeling pretty good, feeling like they might win the championship,” Coulombe said.
“It’s very important that we laid the gauntlet down in this game and showed that we’re the No. 1 team in this league right now.”
It was Hammarskjold (2-2-0) who got on the board first, when kicker Kain Kristafaro’s 17-yard field goal attempt missed, but bounced out of bounds in the endzone for the Canadian-only single-point rouge.
Coulombe and Height made it 7-1 Falcons to open the second and St. Ignatius added a rouge of their own and an 8-1 halftime lead.
Up 11-1 in the fourth, thanks to a 25-yard Daniel Voca field goal, Coulombe added to the Falcons lead, plowing up the middle on a quarterback sneak from the Hammarskjold one to make it 17-1, the extra point no good.
It mattered not.
They’d close out the scoring on Mann’s TD reception in the fourth and will have 10 days to prepare for their Oct. 29 semifinal opponent, the winner of Tuesday’s play-in game between No. 4 Westgate and No. 5 Superior Collegiate. Westgate (1-2-1) wrapped up their regular season with a 27-27 tie against the St. Patrick Saints, who slipped past Hammarskjold for the No. 2 seed at 2-1-1. The Saints and Vikings will meet in the other semifinal.
