Trojans fall in NOSSA final

The West Ferris Trojans fell 43-16 to the St. Mary's Knight's in the NOSSA Senior Football title game held at Rocky DiPietro field in Sault Ste. Marie on Saturday afternoon.

The Trojans kept things close in the first half. The Trojans fell behind 7-2 after the first quarter but in the second quarter the Knights potent offence began to dismantle a defence that hadn’t allowed more than one touchdown against in any regular season or playoff game this season.

Craig Rushon scored on an 18-yard touchdown reception from Michael Esson and with the convert it was 14-2.

The Trojans were able to bounce back as Dustin Anthony hauled in a 30 yard touchdown pass from Tyson Brear to cut the lead to 14-9.

Rushon scored his third touchdown of the game to make it 21-9 but before halftime David Staniszewski rumbled in for a 2-yard touchdown score making it 21-16 at the break.

But the Knights offence really started rolling in the second half as they scored 22 unanswered points in the second half on route to another NOSSA title for the defending champions.

Trojans head coach Larry Tougas felt his team played its worst quarter of the year in the third when they allowed the Knights to pull away with three touchdowns.

“Our second half was a meltdown,” said Tougas in a post game phone interview.

“Our passing game wasn’t right (in the 3rd quarter) and our pass defence was terrible.”

Tougas couldn’t explain the Trojans play in the second half but he did feel his team may have been fatigued but he never would have guessed the Knights would tear them apart so easily after the Trojans scored a late second quarter touchdown to pull within 5 at halftime.

“It was looking real good and we matched them stride for stride,” said Tougas.

The Trojans continued their strong running game as David Staniszewski rushed for 151 yards on 36 carries while running back Mike Small rushed for 46 yards.