Powerful bantam Lions put an end to pesky Cougars season

The opener, a Quebec Midget AAA Football League quarter-final affair saw the North Shore Mustangs defeat the St. Hubert Rebels 22-14. Shane McKenna, Ross Olshansky and quarterback Kevin Hillier on a keeper scored touchdowns for the Mustangs.

The Mustangs continued to exhibit a stingy defence, their trademark through the regular season, for the first three quarters, taking a 22-0 lead into the final period. However, that defence finally bent and broke in the final 15 minutes. The Rebels scored two unanswered touchdowns and threatened to get even closer by gaining possession with a little over a minute left, but could not manage to put any more points on the board.

“We didn’t take them lightly at all,” said Mustangs linebacker Jesse St.-James. “They gave us a battle. We knew they were a solid team, and they proved it.”

The Mustangs will hop on a bus early Saturday morning and travel to the Quebec City region to take on defending provincial champion Beauce Dragons in a semifinal contest, with the winner going on to the championship match.

Meanwhile, the second game of the day saw traditional rivals Lakeshore Cougars and North Shore Lions hook up in a Quebec bantam AAA Football League division final contest. When all was said and done, the Lions’ depth and size proved to the difference in a 49-8 North Shore win. A mix-up between two Cougars players on the opening kickoff allowed the Lions to recover the ball on the Lakeshore 32-yard line. A little over a minute and a half late, the always-opportunistic Lions scored a touchdown, and never looked back.

“They (Lakeshore) played a tremendous game, both on offence and defence,” said Lions assistant head coach David St.-James. “The score really doesn’t really reflect how hard they battled out there.”

Sammy Mesidor led the Lions with a pair of touchdowns on eight carries for a total of 189 yards while Evan Wiley, Andrew Hopkins, Matthew John, Eric Locas and Ernst Pierre also scored TDs. Quarterback Alex Scodras accounted for the only Cougars TD on a keeper.

“Our kids played as hard as they could,” said Cougars head coach Dave Allen. “You just can’t break down against those guys. They execute extremely well. Still, if we end up considered one of the top-three teams in bantam football this year, well, that’s a long way from where we were last year.”

The Lions will host a crossover semifinal contest this Sunday afternoon at Glenn F. McHugh Field against a team from the Montreal Metro Football League. The winner goes on to fight for the provincial championship the following week.