North Shore inter-park pigskin semifinals in the books

BY MICHAEL PIASETZKI

The Chronicle

North Shore Football League (NSFL) inter-park quarter-final play may have been cancelled on Thanksgiving Day, but it was all systems go last weekend as far as semifinal action was concerned.

No less than 26 area squads went to battle on fields spread across the West Island, with the action split into two categories. The top-four-finishing atom, mosquito and peewee clubs in respective conferences battled for the right to play in this Saturday’s higher-level NSFL finals at Riverdale High School in Pierrefonds. Meanwhile, bottom-six-finishing atom along with bottom-four finishing mosquito and peewee clubs also locked horns, with victors earning the right to host one more home game in lower-level Founders Cup finals, also scheduled to unfold this weekend.

Heading into Saturday morning’s NSFL peewee match-up between the first-place Alexander Park Roughriders and fourth-place Lakeshore Cougars at Alexander Park in Pierrefonds, all bets were off trying to predict a winner. In fact, just a few days before the showdown, Sunnybrooke peewee Bombers assistant coach Hugh Allan, a longtime veteran pigskin instructor who has coached at every level, including CEGEP AA with the John Abbott Islanders, claimed that despite being a fourth-place team, the Cougars were a team that could give the Roughriders a run for their money.

Allan, whose Bombers defeated the Ile Bizard Vikings 34-22 in Founders Cup play on Sunday, proved prophetic. In an extremely entertaining see-saw contest that came down to the final play of the game, the Cougars nipped the Roughriders 22-20 to advance to Saturday’s final against the A Ma Baie Alouettes, who edged the St. Lazare Stallions 7-6 at Westwood Field in another exciting contest Sunday morning in St. Lazare.

With a little over 30 seconds left in the game, the Roughriders sat first-and-goal on the Cougars five-yard-line, thanks in part to a thrilling 40-yard run by running back Evan Wiley. Three times they tried to punch it in straight ahead, three times they were unsuccessful against a stingy Cougars defence that would not bend, advancing as far as the one-yard-line. On third-and-one from the one though, they committed a costly penalty, forcing them back to the six-yard-line. With the danger of stalling once again, the Roughriders coaching staff decided to try a field goal, which was blocked.

“We were never actually convinced they were going to actually kick the ball on the play,� said Cougars head coach Bill Mitchell. “We thought there was the possibility of a fake kick. I don’t know if the snap was blotched or not, but you know, it doesn’t matter. It was one of those games that could have gone either way. I was proud of our kids, though. They showed a lot of character.�

Running back Matthew Orsini led the Cougars with three touchdowns while Wiley registered two and quarterback Chris Cione had one for the Roughriders.

“There’s no finge-pointing,� said Roughriders head coach J.B. Wiley. “Our guys played their hearts out. It was a great game to win, and a tough one to lose.�

Elsewhere in NSFL championship play last weekend, the Lakeshore Panthers destroyed Alexander Park 30-0 while St. Lazare got by Sunnybrooke 14-6 to each advance to the atom final while the Lakeshore Cougars slammed Alexander Park 30-0 and Sunnybrooke beat St. Lazare 36-6 to each advance to the mosquito title game. In Founders Cup atom action, the Lakeshore Cougars blanked the Western Patriots 30-0, Ile Bizard cruised by the St. Lazare Silver Stallions 24-8 and A Ma Baie shut out Westpark 14-0. In mosquito match-ups, Ile Bizard crushed the Patriots 34-14 while Westpark stomped over A Ma Baie 41-6. Finally in peewee play, Westpark handed the Patriots a 47-6 thrashing.