Trojans quarterback Matt Valiquette looks for an open receiver. PHOTO BY TOMMY WONG.
The sun was shining, the wind was calm, it was a great evening for some Friday night NDA football action as the Algonquin Barons took on the West Ferris Trojans.
Coming into the game the Trojans were enjoying a two game winning streak and added one more to their win column as they beat the Barons 27-7 under the lights at the Steve Omischl Sports Complex.
Trojans Head Coach Mark Robertson said going into this game the one thing they wanted to focus on was preparation.
“We prepared a lot better this week and I think this has been our best game as far as the entire game goes,” said Robertson.
Both the Trojans and the Barons weren't able to move the ball much as the game started and both defences stood tall. However, the Trojans were able to capitalize on a Barons mistake and struck first on the score board. After a mishandled punt by the Barons, the ball was only kicked 15 yards down the field. To add insult to injury, there was also a penalty on the special teams play against the Barons, which gave their opponents great field position on the Barons 25 yard line. The drive was capped off by WR Riley Anderson catching a 25 yard touchdown pass from Matt Valiquette. The Barons offence was stalling and Riley took advantage. He added three more points to the board before the first quarter was over with a 37 yard field goal.
The Barons wanted to strike back but, whenever they found a little rhythm on offence, the Trojans defence managed to stop them on crucial second and short plays.
The Trojans managed to kill most of the momentum for their opponents. With 3 minutes left before the half, another mistake on special teams was costly for the Barons. The Trojans were able to start their drive on the opponents 35 yard line.They ate up the clock and finished the drive with Matt Valiquette running a QB sneak up the middle for a one yard touchdown.
Coming out of the half, momentum was on the Trojans side.
The Barons showed some fight and tried different tactics as far as mixing up the passes and runs, but the Trojans defence proved to be overwhelming.
The Trojans defence managed to shut out the Barons offence through out three quarters of play.
Trojans' Riley Anderson felt having a great defence has really helped them on offence too.
“When the defence is playing well, they give us good field position on offence which really helps us out,” he said.
Going into the fourth quarter, even without good field position the Trojans struck again. Riley Anderson put the final nail in the coffin as he caught a 20 yard pass from Valiquette.
He then turned it into an 80 yard touchdown which made it a 27-0 game. With the time winding down, the Barons was finally able to move down the field with the help out a 25 yard scamper by Adam Asselin. Wanya Bessette was then able to pound the ball in from the one yard line, which put an end to the Trojans shut out.
Although things were going well for the Trojans throughout most of the game, Head Coach Mark Robertson mentioned how the main focus for the team was to play the entire full 48 minutes of football.
“Algonquin's a talented team and we knew they could come back, so we wanted to keep the pedal to the medal and in the end it worked out for us," Robertson said.
