Wildcats tamed in NOSSA final--updated with stats and photo gallery

The Sault Ste. Marie St. Mary's Knights pose for a championship photo following yesterday's win in the NOSSA finals versus the Widdifield Wildcats. Photo by Peggy Greco, BayToday.ca.

Saturday’s NOSSA football final will most likely be remembered as the ‘Flag Game.’

But for the more than 500 fans, who were at the game, hopefully it will be remembered as a good-hitting game between two hard-working teams.

Sault Ste. Marie St. Mary’s Knights won the Poupore Cup, defeating Widdifield Wildcats 35-14.

There were 40 penalties, 26 to the Knights, a huge amount to be sure, but many were taken in frustration, by both teams.

“I wasn’t at all happy with the amount of penalties,’ said Knights’ head coach Marty Smith. “We usually don’t play in that fashion, but some of the players said that there was a lot going on under the pile.

“I don’t want to rain on our parade, but we can’t play like that in the Central Bowl later this month. We have to learn to fight through that,” he added. “Widdifield gave us all we could handle. That’s the first time this season we were held to under 40 points.”

The Wildcats are also bowl bound and will meet a team from Thunder Bay in the Northern Bowl.

Even with 230 yards in penalties, the Knights didn’t flinch.

They have a solid one-two punch in the backfield with Jeff Greco at fullback and Chris Lebel at tailback. Whenever they needed the yards, those two picked them up.

“They really get us going” Smith said. “We have a play action offence and they give us a tremendous one-two punch.”

The Knights scored 345 points in seven games, prior to Saturday’s final, and Greco and Lebel averaged more than 10 yards per carry.

Greco ran for 161 yards on 13 carries and two touchdowns and Lebel carried 16 times for 139 yards and three touchdowns.

Will Stephenson added an 18-yard field goal and a pair of converts.

The Wildcats, who last appeared in the NOSSA final in 2001, had trouble moving the ball effectively.

But quarterback Jason Ethier did not have much time to throw the ball. For most of the game, there were as many Knight defenders in the Widdifield backfield as Wildcats.

Whereas Soo quarterback John Mullin had time galore, Ethier was fortunate to even get an attempt away.

Running back Wylie Phillips of the Wildcats picked up 37 yards on eight carries, but found the going tough.

“They were ready for us,’ he said. “They are very good defensively and they knew a lot of our plays.”

“That was a good team out there against us today,” said Wildcats head coach Sean Mullan. “We obviously didn’t execute very well in the first half on both sides of the ball and you can’t do that against good teams.

“They took advantage in the first half and it turned out to be too big a deficit for us to come back from in the second half,” he continued.

“The lack of execution was the difference. If we had taken less penalties, caught more balls and hit some receivers, it would have an entirely different game,” Mullan said. “They did a great job of shutting down Wylie (Phillips). They keyed on him and that forced us to try some other things offensively.”

Ethier, who was intercepted four times, threw for a pair of touchdowns.

Steve Valois caught a five-yard pass in the end zone for the Wildcats first touchdown at the 12.24 mark of the second quarter and Chris Sheremeta hauled in a pass and turned it into a 15-yard score with 42 seconds left in the game.

The Knights had a 19-0 lead after running off but 10 plays. They led 25-7 at the half and took the second half kick off and kept the ball for eight minutes and 44 seconds, culminating the drive with Stephenson’s field goal.

Statistics
St. Mary’s
QB John Mullin nine for 16 for 188 yards

Rushing
Greco, 13 for 161 yards, two touchdowns on runs of 20 and 55 yards; Lebel, 16 for 139 yards, three touchdowns on runs of 25, three and 13 yards.

Receiving
Mark DeVuono, four for 117 yards; Brian Denneny, three for 38 yards

Interceptions
Pat Murray, two; Michael Esson and Andrew Baziuk, one each

Widdifield
QB Jason Ethier 13 for 30, 168 yards, two TDS and four interceptions

Rushing
Phillips, eight for 37 yards; Ethier, eight for 56; Jesse Bethune, six for 28; Kory Crawford, one for five, Sheremeta, one for 22

Receiving
Sheremeta, eight for 116 yards, one TD, 15 yards; Crawford, four for 39 yards; Valois one for five yards, touchdown

Penalties
St. Mary’s 26 for 230 yards, Widdifield, for 135 yards