THUNDER BAY – The St. Ignatius Falcons have found the win column.
Jayce Zaroski rushed for 204 yards and a touchdown and the Kevin Poirier pounced on a muffed punt for a special teams score as the junior Falcons eked past the Westgate Tigers 30-29 on Thursday evening at Fort William Stadium, the difference effectively a rouge awarded on the final play of the opening half.
It was a back-and-forth affair that saw St. Ignatius open a 20-7 lead, only to have the Tigers roar back to even the score 21-21 after recovering their own kickoff to open the second half, needing just three plays to find the end zone after taking over on their opponent’s 28-yard-line.
It was a battle, Zaroski said.
“I have no words. Our defence shut them down, the offence played phenomenal,” he said. “I’d just like to thank my quarterback, Nick Grassia. He was amazing as always. And the o-line did good today. They really stepped up their game against a tough opponent, even with some of our main players out. They played fantastic today.”
The Falcons began the contest with an extended drive, but it stalled out at the Westgate 24 and they couldn’t covert a 31-yard field goal try and the game remained scoreless through the opening quarter.
Late in the first St. Ignatius took over the ball on their own 45, but appeared to have suffered a three-and-out, opting to punt.
The ball bounced off a Tigers returner and Poirier was in the right spot at the right time, landing on the ball in the endzone for the special teams major.
Only he wasn’t sure what had happened.
“I saw the ball and I jumped on it and it was awesome. I didn’t even know. I thought it was one point. Everybody was screaming and said I got six points,” Poirier said.
The high of a special teams touchdown didn’t last long, however.
Westgate’s Koen Hurlbert, a standout on D all game long, took the ensuing kickoff 90 yards to the St. Ignatius endzone, the extra point giving the Tigers a 7-6 lead.
The Falcons (1-2-0) had a quick response.
Putting the ball on the ground, largely on the back of Zaroski, they marched down the field, the drive kept alive on a key third-down play from just outside the red zone, when Grassia hooked up for a 22-yard strike that dropped the ball on the Westgate 5. After a one-yard gain, Zaroski rumbled up the middle for a four-yard score and St. Ignatius jumped in front 20-7.
Grassia got in on the action on the Falcons next possession, hitting Kieran McGuire for a 26-yard score, with just over two minutes left in the first half.
Westgate (1-1-1) made the most of the limited time left in the quarter to keep the game a one-score contest, abandoning the run in favour of quarterback Nathan Miller’s arm.
Miller completed four straight passes three of them to Clark Matson, who completed the scoring drive with an 11-yard touchdown catch that made it 20-14.
They tied it up early in the third, Miller hitting Matson for a second time in the Falcons end zone, tying the game 21-21.
But the Falcons took the lead for good on their next possession. Running back Emilio Cosio had a pair of big runs that keyed the drive, a 16-yarder and, then, after Grassia and Nico Donato made good on a 39-yard passing play, Emilio Cosio cut to the left and raced past the goal line as St. Ignatius took a 27-31 lead.
They made it a two-score game with 3:13 to play in the fourth on Finley Hebert’s 14-yard field goal.
Showing no quit, the Tigers found the end zone for a fourth time with 65 seconds to go, Miller calling his own name from the one-yard line, then closed to the gap to one, angling his way to the corner pylon to complete the two-point conversion.
The onside kick failed, and Zaroski sealed it with a pair of 13-yard runs.
St. Patrick 27, Superior 0: Allan Pawdomu, Ethan Deward and Jason Taw had rushing touchdowns and Connor Shewchuk ran a Gryphons punt back 65 yards for another major, the Saints improving to 3-0-0 on the season.
