Minutes after the Sooners lost the Intergold Cup national semi-final yesterday, Ottawa linebacker Andrew Leaflang, in his full gear and holding his helmet in his hand, was standing outside Carleton University’s Keith Harris Field, waiting for the light to change to cross Bronson Ave.
He waited and looked both ways.
Figuratively speaking, Leaflang and his Sooners teammates stepped off the curb earlier yesterday and got hit by the Edmonton Wildcats bus.
Powered by a dominating defence, the play of their offensive line and the twin bulldozers in their backfield, running backs Liam Mahoney and Justin McEvoy (458 lbs. between them), the Wildcats crushed the Sooners 31-3 at Keith Harris Stadium to advance to the 2009 Canadian Bowl Nov. 14 against the defending champion Vancouver Island Raiders in Nanaimo, B.C.
The game will be a rematch of the 2006 championship, which the Raiders won on a last-minute field goal.
“The (Raiders) are a good team with a lot of studs,” said Wildcats quarterback Andy Pilon, a member of that 2006 team which lost by a point. “We’re going to study, study, study and go out there and show them the (Prairie Football Conference) knows how to play football, too.”
Yesterday’s loss ended what has to be considered a successful return to the Ontario Football Conference and the CJFL by the Sooners after a 13-year absence.
“It’s one of those deals where right after a loss it’s hard to think about the big picture,” said Sooners coach Andy McEvoy. “That’s a heck of a football team we played (yesterday). Give them all the credit in the world. They make you pay. They’re a mature team and for the guys we’re bringing back next year, they’ll know what you have to do to stay at this level.
“We knew we were in tough and it was one of those days where we couldn’t take advantage of our opportunities.”
Pilon said preparation by the coaching staff was a big key to the Wildcats ending the Sooners’ season.
“Our coaches came down the week before and then showed us a couple of tapes. We looked at their coverages, saw their strengths and tried to exploit their weaknesses,” he said. “Our defence spent two weeks studying their offence. We have a lot of faith in our defence. There were a lot of two-and-outs.”
No kidding.
The Sooners’ possessions ended this way: They punted about a dozen times, turned it over on downs once, had their first drive ended by an interception, gave up two safeties and got their only points on a 28-yard field goal by Tyler Crapigna.
The Wildcats took that interception and scored on their first drive with Pilon hitting Jerit Lambert with a 16-yard touchdown pass. Ben Hnidan kicked a 14-yard field goal to make it 10-0 before Crapigna narrowed the score.
A three-yard touchdown run by Liam Dow made it 17-3 at halftime.
It was all Wildcats in the second half with a 38-yard field goal by Hnidan and a spectacular catch-and-run of 55 yards by Kevin Wuthrich. The Sooners were pinned in their end most of the afternoon, giving up those two safeties.
There were a lot of handoffs to McEvoy and Mahoney the rest of the time.
“I just feel great,” said McEvoy, who rumbled for over 100 yards. “The key to my game is to play physical and let the rest of the guys make plays. Our offensive line has been awesome all playoffs,” he said before sprinting off to join his teammates in the hoisting of the Intergold Cup.
The Wildcats last won the national title in 1983, coincidentally, over the Sooners.
