~~~~~~~~~ Advertisement ~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~ Advertisement ~~~~~~~~~
By Brendan Shaughnessy
The two-time defending Ontario Varsity Football League champions are back at it again.
On July 4 at Millennium Field, the Myers Riders immediately showed the host Cumberland Panthers that they were the real deal.
On the first play from scrimmage, a Mali Sauvé-Mohamed catch put the visitors a few yards from paydirt, with Keenan Tanti running it in for the major before the game was 37 seconds old.
A few minutes later, Riders defensive back Nick Urbani’s interception return deep into Cumberland territory set up another Tanti TD.
“My speed wasn’t there (to reach the end zone), but that’s ok,” smiled Urbani, whose defensive mates dashed the Panthers’ hopes of getting back into the game on the next drive by stopping Cumberland on four-straight occasions after an interception had set up them up with 1st-and-goal.
“That definitely put a shake in them, for sure,” Urbani added.
The Riders cruised on to a comfortable 27-7 win over the 3-3 Panthers, although that marked the smallest margin of victory so far this year for the juggernauts who’d previously put up 60+ points in 3 of 5 games under the guidance of quarterback Jacob Spinella.
“This was our toughest test,” signalled Riders coach Max Palladino. “Our defence played a hell of a game.”
With the win, the Riders kept alive a remarkable streak – Myers hasn’t lost a game at the varsity level since the 2012 season.
“We don’t think about it,” Palladino underlined. “We all know we have a big target on our back. My hat goes off to our kids, because they don’t let that bother them. They just come out and play football. They don’t worry about records, scores – all they worry about is that particular night, that particular game, and being ready for it.”
2 more local teams perfect
With a 37-22 win over 5-2 Cumberland, the Myers Riders junior varsity OVFL side remained undefeated at 6-0. Riders runningback Jean-Paul Cimankinda has gained over 800 rushing yards more than anyone else in the league, carrying an eye-popping total of 1,747 in 6 games for an average of almost 300 per contest.
It’s the Panthers who own one of two perfect 7-0 records in the Bantam division (along with Essex). With a Kevin Victome touchdown catch and another solid defensive performance, Cumberland dealt the Riders their first loss of the year in a 10-7 game.
The 7 points Myers scored equalled the most allowed in any game by the Panthers, who have recorded 4 shutouts in their 7 wins, outscoring opponents by a combined 393-20.