Cougars Prowl On Alumni Day
With several prominent alumni in attendance during the second annual Chatham-Kent Cougars football organization alumni classic, the organization had a big day picking up three wins. The Senior, Bantam, and Peewee Varsity teams each won their matchups, while the Junior Varsity squad was the only Cougars team to fall Sunday.
The Chatham Bantam Cougars rebounded from their first loss a week ago with a victory over the Twin City Predators 49-34 in a lighting delayed game Sunday night in Chatham.
The Cougars were led by two breakout performances from Jermaine Caldwell and Mo Iubrai as well as too great comeback performances from their two quarterbacks Kelton Evans and Nolan Ball. Caldwell carried the ball 18 times for 215 yards with rushing TDs of 1 and 48 yards. He also had two catches on the day and one of those a 37 yard TD reception from QB Ball. Slot back Iubrai had 86 yards on 8 carries with TD runs of 5 and 20 yards as well as 2 receptions for 23 yards.
The two QBs combined for a 75% completion rate on the day. Evans went 6 for 12 for 37 yards and Ball was 3 for 3 on the day for 50 yards with the TD strike to Caldwell and a 10 yarder to Jake Anderson. Evans also had 3 runs on the day one of which he scored on a QB sneak from one yard out.
The entire offensive line was praised by the Cougar coaching staff on their performance opening holes on the run and providing the QBs with great protection allday. Other strong offensive performances were put in by Nate Krieger who was the lead blocker for Caldwell and carried the ball himself 10 times for 41 yards. Liberty Rountree had a couple carries for 30 yards and Ross Kreiger returning from injury also contributed with a couple key catches, one of which was a 38 yard option pass from Anderson who also was returning for the first time in 3 weeks from injury.
Owen Dorser converted all 7 touchdowns and played strong defensively. Kenny Leveque had an interception and knocked down a number of Twin City passes on defense. The pistol like offense of the Kitchener team provided a challenge to the Cougar defence which after some half time adjustments was able to slow it down. Other strong defensive games were turned in by Blair Dernyk, Austin Millar, Quinton Forgie, Nolan Hakr and Ethan Baylis.
The Peewee Chatham-Kent Cougars got a hard fought home win against The Oakville Titans 30-20 at home on Sunday. Daylen Mailloux led a balanced attack. Mailloux rushed for 92 yards on 17 carries and 2TDs. Chase Waddick had 57 yards on 3 carries and 1 TD. Waddick also caught a 22 yard TD from Mailloux. Brandon Tatsu caught a 10 yard TD from Waddick. Adam Pearson rushed for 41 yards on 5 carries and Connor Wright had 28 yards rushing.
The defense was led by Jarret Millard who made 7 tackles, Patrick Ezewski had 5, Lucas Doyle made 4 and recovered a fumble, Tanner Hoorelbeck also made 4 tackles. Connor Wright had 4 tackles, 1 interception and a fumble recovery. Evan Torres and Cody Lunn each had 2 tackles.
In the Senior Varsity game, the Chatham-Kent Cougars improved to 3-1-1 on the season by defeating the Forest City Thunderbirds 59-3.
Lee Purnell and Kyle Ross scored touchdowns in the opening quarter on 42- and 1-yard respectively. In the second half Jonah Pataki ran in two touchdowns, while Blayne Bechard caught a 40-yard pass for another TD.
Purnell and Pataki, both Wallaceburg products, would score again in the fourth quarter, while Eric Frappier also scored on a 50-yard punt return and Clark Green kicked a 22-yard field goal.