St. Joseph's Panthers beat Holy Trinity 21-13 for SDG football title
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The end of the SDG high school football season on Friday afternoon was the start of a new challenge for the St. Joseph’s Panthers.
That was one of the messages that came through after the Panthers won an exciting championship game over the visiting Holy Trinity Falcons, 21-13 on a lightly snow-covered field.
“I’m proud of all of you,” said St. Joseph’s head coach Mitch Zappitelli in a short address to his team after the trophy presentation. “It’s a good start. . .we’ll get to work again (early next week), we’ll have (video of) whoever it is we play (in next Thursday’s 1 p.m. EOSSAA semifinal).”
That’s a playoff game the Panthers will host, and not long after Zappitelli spoke, St. Joseph’s learned that the opponent headed to Cornwall will be North Grenville.
The Knights, also on Friday afternoon, won their playoff game 20-14 over the Brockville Red Rams, in five overtime periods.
Holy Trinity quarterback Ryan Stephens throws a pass on a snowy field, early in Friday's game. Photo on Friday, November 8, 2019, in Cornwall, Ont. Todd Hambleton/Cornwall Standard-Freeholder/Postmedia NetworkPhoto by Todd Hambleton /Todd Hambleton/Standard-Freeholder
Tanner Keenan (27) making a tackle for the Panthers. Photo on Friday, November 8, 2019, in Cornwall, Ont. Todd Hambleton/Cornwall Standard-Freeholder/Postmedia NetworkPhoto by Todd Hambleton /Todd Hambleton/Standard-Freeholder
Some of the St. Joseph's Panthers celebrating with the trophy, after a 21-13 win against Holy Trinity. Photo on Friday, November 8, 2019, in Cornwall, Ont. Todd Hambleton/Cornwall Standard-Freeholder/Postmedia NetworkPhoto by Todd Hambleton /Todd Hambleton/Standard-Freeholder
Isaac Proulx (57) helps clear a path for running back Bruce Nichol, with a short-yardage TD run in the fourth period that put the Panthers ahead 21-7. Photo on Friday, November 8, 2019, in Cornwall, Ont. Todd Hambleton/Cornwall Standard-Freeholder/Postmedia NetworkPhoto by Todd Hambleton /Todd Hambleton/Standard-Freeholder
Veteran Nolan Shane (middle) and the St. Joseph's Panthers celebrate their SDG football playoff championship, after a 21-13 win against Holy Trinity. Photo on Friday, November 8, 2019, in Cornwall, Ont. Todd Hambleton/Cornwall Standard-Freeholder/Postmedia NetworkPhoto by Todd Hambleton /Todd Hambleton/Standard-Freeholder
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At St. Joseph’s field, it was the Falcons, who on a very cold day for football, had a hot start, capitalizing on some early turnovers. Not long after a Panthers fumble at the St. Joseph’s 20-yard-line, Holy Trinity quarterback Ryan Stephens found a wide open Brady Ledoux in the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown.
Ledoux then booted the extra point to give the visitors a 7-0 lead, but the Panthers didn’t take long to answer, and it was a terrific run by speedy Nolan Shane that may have been the game’s turning point.
Shane, nearly tackled for a loss in the backfield, got to the outside and ran down the sideline for a 55-yard major, the game tied 7-7 after Cole Fraser-Dupuis’ extra point.
The Panthers, staying mostly on the ground all afternoon and putting together some lengthy drives, took the lead for good with four minutes left in the opening half, a 20-yard run by Jeremy Hartle putting the ball on the Holy Trinity one-yard-line, and it would be Bruce Nichol plunging across the goal line seconds later, with the Fraser-Dupuis extra point making it 14-7.
Shane after the game said the rocky start didn’t faze the Panthers.
“We just tried to keep a clear head, it was too early to get down,” he said.
Shane was part of a very effective one-two running punch, with Nichol handling the short yardage scoring efforts, with two touchdowns.
“He’s gritty, he’ll fight for every yard,” Shane said of his teammate, adding that the SDG title “feels great. . .it’s my last year – I came back (to school) for this.”
Last year, the Panthers got knocked out in the EOSSAA semifinal at Gananoque. This year, they host the game, and want to move on to the final, which would also be played at St. Joseph’s.
“Our goal has been to go one step farther this year,” he said. “It’s really fuelled the fire, it’s gotten us motivated.”
The Panthers against Holy Trinity on the first play of the fourth quarter got a key 20-yard run from Shane that had them knocking on the door again, with Nichol eventually taking the ball in on a two-yard charge, with the extra point making it 21-7.
The Falcons didn’t go quietly, engineering a nice drive late in the game that concluded with a minute to go when Stephens – playing just a week after leaving the semifinal game with an injury to his mid-section – tossed a 20-yard pass to Ethan DaSilva.
Jeff McAllister, in his 13th and final season of coaching Holy Trinity, thought his players gave it a superb effort against a strong Panthers team.
“We left it all out there on the field,” McAllister said. “There’ve been some losses that have felt a lot worse than this.”
McAllister said the early sequences were critical, that the Shane touchdown run stung.
“We could have had him for a loss in the back field,” the coach said. “But he got away, he’s fast – he’s a good player.”
The football season isn’t over locally, by far. There’s also a junior championship to be decided, the title game being held at St. Joseph’s on Monday at 12 noon.
The Panthers have been playing in the four-team Eastern Ontario Junior Football League, along with squads from Renfrew, North Grenville and Gananoque.
The Panthers, coached by Daniel Lapierre and Sheldon McDougall, will play Renfrew in the final.
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