The Bantam Bulldogs were on the road to face the Toronto Jets to close out their regular season in OPFL action Saturday as they pulled off a tight 20-18 victory in Toronto on Saturday.
The Jets came out fast with two early scores to go up 12-0 early in the first quarter, the Bulldogs finally got on the board with a good run by Patrick Etmanski up the middle late in the second quarter to go into the half down 12-6.
Early in the third quarter, the Jets took a punt back for the major to go up 18-6. The Bulldogs defense seemed to wake up in the third quarter with an interception for a touchdown by linebacker Dalton Marleau-Vautour.
"That interception is exactly what we needed to change the momentum in this game," said Bulldogs Bantam coach Eric Morgan.
"After that interception in the third, the defense did not allow another yard gained for the Jets offense. We had outstanding play up front on the D-line, all four of those kids played well but our strong side end Caleb Bradshaw seem to take the weight of this game on his back, he stretched out plays, made tackles for losses and effectively shut down that side of the field for us."
The Bulldogs got the ball back in the fourth quarter down by a score on their own 40-yard line.
Riley Huter hit Will McCharles for a huge gain of 40 yards to start that drive.
With under two minutes left Patrick Etmanski had a couple of big runs and capped it off with a touchdown to finally take the lead for the first time in the game. Janik Vezina added two extra points to give the Bulldogs a 20-18 lead.
The Bulldogs defense shut the Jets offense down again in their final drive to give the Bulldogs their fourth win of the season.
Playoffs start next weekend the Bantam Bulldogs will be travelling to Clarington to face the Knights where the Bulldogs hope to avenge their week one loss to the Knights.
