Warriors, Raiders playoffs continue
Courtesy Franco D’Amato
Kahnawake’s Jack Jacobs and his team, the LaSalle Warriors of the Quebec Midget Football League (QMFL), will continue their strong season after punching their ticket to the QMFL semifinals in overtime against the St. Leonard Cougars.
On the heels of LaSalle’s win, head coach Damani Best said that the maturity of the Warriors’ players, along with a very strong performance on the ground, was the key to the quarterfinals victory.
“The growth of the team from the beginning of the season to now has been remarkable,” said Best.
The Warriors posted a 4-4 record, their best regular season performance in years, with Best saying he was happy with how their season had gone, especially the strong play and leadership of returning players.
“We’ve pretty much been able to be in every game,” he said.
That was the case against St. Leonard, where the Cougars got off to a good start, finding themselves up 21-7 with about eight minutes left.
The Warriors went to work after that.
A long offensive drive put them within one score, and they got the defensive stop quickly on St. Leonard’s next possession, giving them the ball with about two minutes left in the fourth quarter.
They marched the ball down to the goal line efficiently, making it on the doorstep of the endzone with 33 seconds left on the clock.
Their first attempt to get in the endzone was stopped, and after calling a timeout with 9.3 seconds left, Best called for the QB sneak.
“The offensive line opened up nicely,” said Best, and they tied the game on the last play, hitting the extra point to send it to overtime.
In overtime, the Warriors kicked a field goal, and after St. Leonard failed to score on their possession, LaSalle thought they had already won when, instead, they had to do another possession to try and get a touchdown, according to league rules.
“We thought we were done, we were kind of walking out of there already,” said Best.
“I told the team, ‘Refocus, go out there and go do business.’”
They did just that, scoring a touchdown to seal the game, 30-21.
On Saturday, they will be facing a Lakeshore Cougars team that went 7-1 in the regular season and defeated their quarterfinal opponents, the St. Laurent Spartans, 55-0.
“I don’t really look at how it went against other teams, I see what it is that we do and how we match up against what they’re able to do,” said Best.
He said he likes what the Warriors have to offer against Lakeshore, including a running game that ran for more than 200 yards combined, thanks to strong play from Jacobs and the rest of the offensive line, as well as a defense that was able to shut the door when it mattered most against St. Leonard.
“How well we can use our strengths, and how well we can take away the strengths of the other team, that’s what it all comes down to,” said Best.
Raiders results
The Chateauguay Raiders will have one team competing in the Montreal Regional Football League (MRFL)’s championship weekend.
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The Atom Raiders will be competing for the MRFL Cup on Saturday at 10 a.m. in Chateauguay against the North Shore Roughriders.
To get there, they defeated the Chomedey Blues in a very one-sided contest, winning 60-0 in the MRFL Cup semifinals on October 26.
The Mosquito and Peewee Raiders, meanwhile, were unable to advance to their respective finals.
The Mosquito Raiders had a chance to advance to the President’s Cup Finals last Saturday morning, but they were beaten by the still undefeated LaSalle Warriors Red 22-6.
In Peewee, the Raiders were playing for a chance to go to that age group’s MRFL Cup, but they were unable to move past the Lakeshore Cougars, losing 46-8.
