JV and Bantam Cougars Beat Up by the Best
Facing the provinces best organization, the Burlington Stampeders, it wasn’t about winning or losing for the JV Chatham-Kent Cougars, but rather about putting their best game on the field. The Cougars were beat up on by the Stampeders 59-14, but still put together a strong game.
On the defensive side of the ball, Kameron Rylett-Ward put together a highlight reel including 8 tackles and a number of assists on the day. Anthony Cunha also had an impressive outing totalling 7 tackles. Tanner Emery and Erich DeMars both had 5 tackles for the Chatham-Kent Cougars. Zach Goetghebeur had 4 tackles, a QB sack, and a fumble recovery, while Mitch Anderson blocked a convert attempt and batted a couple of passes away from Burlington Stampeders receivers. Despite the score differential, the Cougars defense showed some strong points in the game.
The Cougars offence struggled to put points up on the board and were not allowed in the oppositions’ end zone until the second half when Tanner Emery broke away and ran 86 yards for the first Cougars touchdown of the game. D’wan Mailloux kept things going for the Chatham-Kent Cougars catching a 20 yard pass from a perfectly thrown ball by John McCauley to put the second touchdown of the day on the board for the Cougars. Ben Bartlett converted the extra points after both touchdowns. Bartlett also had a total of 60 yards of kick off returns along with Tanner Emery who had 51. Anthony Cunha helped out the Cougars’ offence in the second half running the ball for 68 yards.
Chatham-Kent plays on the road next Sunday facing the Hamilton Panthers aat 1:00pm in Hamilton.
In the late game, the Burlington Stampeders handed another Chatham-Kent Cougars team a loss, with the Bantams losing 47-21. Brady Pataki led the scoring with an interception return for a touchdown as well as a kick return for a score. Kelton Evans threw a late touchdown pass to Jake Anderson for the other Cougars score. Although the Cougars showed great effort all game long, especially on special teams, they were not rewarded for it on the scoreboard due to a few miscues and a slew of injuries. They did however, finish the game strong, giving hope for a better outcome next weekend as the Bantam team also faces Hamilton.