The North Shore midget AAA Mustangs defeated the LaSalle Warriors 33-20 Saturday night at Ewenson Park in LaSalle. The Mustangs who held a 5-4 record prior to the game weren’t the favourites to win the game against the 8-1 Warriors.
“We rotated the bench a lot tonight, made sure everyone got some good playing time. The game went really well. We capitalized on some turnovers which is a must when it happens. That gave us some early scores which is fantastic. It helped us a lot getting possession back and we tried to eat up as much time as possible on our drives. We’re known for long passes and that kind of stuff but we can do some shorter stuff too and use the whole field,” said Mustangs’ head coach Jason Jourdenais.
The highly-motivated Mustangs started the game with a bang. They obtained two early touchdowns in the first quarter, a 32-yard major by Anthony Boudin and a nine-yard rush by Hergy Malaya.
The Warriors then woke up as Justin Julien Jr. returned the Mustangs’ kickoff from one end of the field to the other at 8:26 of the first quarter. Unfazed, the Mustangs followed with a rush down the field marked by a seven-yard run and four completed passes by quarterback Justin McInnis totalling 38 yards bringing North Shore at LaSalle’s 15-yard line. On the next play, the Warriors, much to their demise, took a facemask penalty making it easy for Jean Exume to punch in the major on the next play.
The North Shore midget AAA Mustangs finished the 2012 regular season on a positive note by beating the LaSalle Warriors 33-20 Saturday night at Ewenson Park in LaSalle. Photo by Rob Amyot." />
The Warriors weren’t done burying themselves. On their ensuing possession, they fumbled the ball at their 25-yard line. McInnis passed to Nory Volny on the next play for the touchdown. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Mustangs were still ahead 27-7.
After the Warriors scored with a 43-yard reception from Darren McAlpine early in the fourth quarter, North Shore nailed the coffin shut as McInnis threw a 25-yard pass to James Tyrrell for the major with 4:14 remaining. LaSalle would add a touchdown in desperation with less than two minutes remaining but it would be too little too late.
“We had a lot of back-ups in. In the end, we knew we were finishing in second place. The game didn’t mean anything for us and it didn’t mean anything for them. Hopefully we would have avoided the little mistakes but we didn’t use our number one running back or safety so... Now, this season is over and the real work begins,” said LaSalle’s head coach Andy Peterkin.
