Redskins walk away “with our heads held high” in NCAFA championship defeat

In the course of the football game, there probably couldn’t have been a much more inconsequential play.

 
Down 21-0 to the undefeated Myers Orleans Bengals with under a minute to play, there was no way the Nepean Redskins were going to win the National Capital Amateur Football Association Midget ‘A’ Cup final on Friday, Nov. 4 in Gatineau.

But as their kick returner ran hard, bounced off one tackle, then got his leg caught before lunging ahead with a last-ditch effort to fight for every possible yard, there couldn’t have been a more telling play for Redskins coach Steve Viau.

“They never quit,” Viau says of his players. “Thirty seconds left – our guys are ready to go and saying, ‘C’mon boys, we got 30 seconds left.’”

It’s the type of attitude that makes a coach “more proud of these guys than any father could be.”

The Redskins battled through the NCAFA season without a starting quarterback until the very end of the season, struggling to put points on the board but providing stalwart defence in giving up an average of six point a game during a 4-4 regular season.

With a 23-13 playoff victory over the Ottawa Colts, Nepean was off to its second consecutive Midget title game, although the result was as kind to the Redskins this time around.

“It doesn’t feel great to lose, but we’ll be back,” Viau adds. “We play with dignity and walk out with our heads held high. If we lose, we lose with dignity. We lost (on Friday), but they’re still smiling.”

Defensive leader Ryan Lawther was named the Redskins’ MVP in the contest, a fitting tribute to a player who always gives maximal effort and also helps out with younger teams, Viau notes.

The Bengals were the class of the Midget division this season, scoring over three times as many points as they allowed en route to a perfect 10-0 record.

“Every bar that we set, they met,” identifies Orleans coach Ntare Bainomugisha, whose entire coaching staff is made up of players with at least university experience. “It was awesome. And the kids are such good kids.”

In other NCAFA ‘A’ Cup finals, the Cumberland Panthers beat the Bel-Air Copeland Lions 42-28 in the Mosquito championship, the Myers Riders Pee-wees downed the Bell Warriors 28-21 and the Gloucester South Raiders knocked off the riders 14-7.
’B’ Cup champions included Orleans, Bell, Gloucester South and Cornwall, while the Gloucester South Tykes and Mosquitoes took home ‘C’ Cup crowns along with Gatineau and West Carleton.