After scoring on the first possession the West Ferris Trojans were chasing the game against a veteran-laden Winston Churchill Trojans team, as the Thunder Bay squad won 36-14 at the OFSAA Northern Bowl in Hamilton this afternoon.
Ryan McColeman was the offensive star for the Trojans scoring on their first possession of the game and another major late in the fourth quarter with the game out of reach.
Trojans QB Mason McGrisken struggled to find his receivers on the home of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats as he was picked off four times in the loss, while the West Ferris offence also lost a pair of fumbles.
The Thunder Bay offence took advantage of the mistakes as they were led by running back Braeden Prochnicki which three touchdowns and his teammate James Baseliga who added a pair of TD’s.
The game starts off well for the Trojans who had not played since a November 11th win over Korah in the NOSSA final. The speedy Ryan McColeman got the offence rolling with an early touchdown on the first possession on a short one-yard run.
Things continued to look good for the North Bay team as Cole Goddard picked off a Dylan Ford pass after Winston Churchill was moving the ball into West Ferris territory.
However, the Trojans Mason McGrisken lost the ball from centre and the Thunder Bay team recovered near midfield.
Late first quarter, Winston Churchill found the end zone with a seven-yard run by running back Braeden Prochnicki and with the convert made it 7-7.
In the second quarter, the Thunder Bay squad made it’s way down the field again as West Ferris struggled to stop the Winston Churchill run game.
However, once Thunder Bay got into the red zone the West Trojans defence came up with a big stop and halted a third-down conversion inside the 15-yard line as they took over possession and kept the game tied 7-7.
After a two and out the Trojans had to kick from their one-yard line, and on the next Thunder Bay possession they rolled down the field and converted a four-yard pass and catch to take a 13-7 lead as Winston Churchill missed the two-point convert with less than three minutes left in the half.
However, next possession West Ferris looked poised to rebound with a pair of first downs but McGrisken then threw an interception which was brought back to the 35-yard line of West Ferris.
Thunder Bay added to the lead as the Winston Churchill QB hit running back Braeden Prochnicki for a 28-yard screen pass for a touchdown and with the convert took a 20-7 lead with the convert with less than a minute left in the first half.
The West Ferris offence continued to struggle in the second quarter as McGrisken threw his second straight interception which was returned to the West Ferris 40.
That led to a late field goal attempt that was short by Thunder Bay who was kicking into the wind.
After a surprise onside kick that was successful, Ryan McColeman had a big run to the 25-yard line of Thunder Bay.
However, playing against the wind, West Ferris elected to gamble on third down and McGrisken was unable to connect with Cameron Walters and Thunder Bay took over on downs.
On the West Ferris next possession again McGrisken has trouble finding his targets as the Thunder Bay squad pulled in their third interception and first one of the third quarter.
That was costly as the Trojans from Thunder Bay added a short field goal to make it 23-7 with 5:45 left in the third.
The Trojans missed another opportunity early in the fourth quarter when McGrisken found Campbell in the end zone for a 20 plus yard TD pass but it just went off his fingertips on a third-down play.
Winston Churchill made West Ferris pay for that missed opportunity as James Basalyga caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Dylan Ford and with the conversion, Thunder Bay put the game out of reach at 30-7.
Next possession McGrisken to Campbell hook and ladder to McColeman was fumbled and Thunder Bay recovered for yet another West Ferris turnover.
Thunder Bay added another major as Ford hit Procknicki for another well-executed play late in the ball game for the 42-yard pass and catch play and with no convert, it was 36-7 with 3:23 on the clock.
Late in the game, McGrisken converted his longest pass of the game hitting Cameron Walters just short of the end zone at the seven-yard-line. Two plays later McColeman scores on the inside handoff for his second score of the OFSAA Bowl.
The West Ferris onside kick this time was unsuccessful with 2:11 left.
McGrisken tried to find Walters along the sideline in the final 30 seconds and was picked off for the fourth time to end the game.
