THUNDER BAY – The St. Patrick Fighting Saints overcame three turnovers, their defence standing tall on Sunday afternoon to earn them a berth in next Saturday’s SSSAA junior football final.
Boston Bortolin connected with Jude Hockenhall for a 14-yard touchdown early in the second quarter and Gordon Pawdomu killed a potential game-tying drive late in the fourth, picking off Hammarskjold quarterback Kolt Croker to seal the Saints 14-7 semifinal win at Fort William Stadium.
The Saints will take on the defending champion St. Ignatius Falcons, who scored on each of their first four possessions of the game and downed the Westgate Tigers 45-7 in Sunday’s other semifinal.
It was a hard-fought win, said Bortolin, who finished 10-for-21 through the air, for 185 yards and a score, though he did toss up a trio of interceptions, including two in the fourth that kept the Vikings in the one-score contest.
“It’s just unbelievable,” said Bortolin on making the junior final.
“It’s been four or five years now that the team hasn’t been in the final. It’s just unreal.”
St. Patrick coach Matt Madge said the Saints got out of the gate pretty quickly, but gave credit to the Vikings, who fought to the final whistle and made the necessary adjustments to stay in the contest.
“We started spinning our wheels a little bit. They’re a quality team over there, I’ve got to give them kudos for sure,” Madge said.
“The defence really, when we were sputtering there, kept us in and was able to shut them down on drives and definitely a lot of props to the defence there today.”
The Saints were first on the board, a touchdown set up by a 45-yard strike from Bortolin to Allan Pawdomu that left the green and gold just outside the red zone. Weston Kayes carried it 11 yards deeper to the 13 and Pawdomu took it the rest of the way, his 13-yard touchdown run making it 7-0 Saints with less than three minutes to go in the opening quarter.
St. Patrick doubled their lead on their first possession of the second, a 29-yard strike to Ethan Dewar landing the ball on the Vikings 16, setting up a 17-yard touchdown pass from Bortolin to Hocknhull.
The Vikings marched to the St. Patrick 18 on their ensuing drive, but Croker’s third-down pass fell incomplete and the Saints took over, the Hammarskjold passing game not connecting like they’d hoped throughout much of the first half.
The Vikings defence did its job, not allowing another point the rest of the way, while picking off Bortolin twice in the fourth, but the Saints defenders were just as stingy in their own right, forcing a fumble on what looked to be a promising drive to the St. Patrick 28, leading to a Vikings punt.
The Saints tried to run out the clock late in the fourth, but were forced to punt the ball away. Adding tot their misery was a 15-yard no-yards penalty on the kick that gave the Vikings the ball on their own 51, the short field giving them hope with 2:08 to play in regulation.
Kain Cristofaro kept the drive alive with an 11-yard run on third down and Hammarskjold had a first down on the St. Patrick 31, but that’s where the drive stalled. Croker threw and incompletion and then his throw up the middle was snagged by Pawdomu, allowing the Saints to run out the clock.
The Saints and Falcons will meet on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at the Stadium.
