July 9th, 2022: Cumberland Panthers (OSFL U18) 30 @ Sault Sabercats 07

The 3-seed Cumberland Panthers won their first OSFL U18 playoff game this past weekend in dominating fashion, handing the visiting (7-seed) Brampton Bulldogs a 44-00 setback.

Hopefully we get some coverage of that but two weekends ago, the Panthers closed out the regular season with a road game in Sault-Ste-Marie. I've located an article about that game written by Brad Coccimiglio for sootoday.com and share an excerpt of it below. 

Cumberland jumped out to an early lead as Jerry Momo ran the ball 77 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. Jayden Bonhomme kicked the extra point to make it 7-0 Panthers early.

The Panthers made it 14-0 as Zai Vaillancourt caught a pass from quarterback Wolfgang Schad for a 45-yard touchdown. Bonhomme kicked the convert on the play.

The Sabercats got on the board in the second quarter as Konner Ritchie ran the ball in from two yards out. The major, combined with the subsequent convert by Daniel Bumbaco made it 14-7.

The locals had an opportunity to tie the game in the third quarter when Lucas Malcolm recovered a fumbled punt deep in Cumberland territory. The Sabercats would get the ball down to the Panthers one, but couldn’t convert on the opportunity

Cumberland then added to the lead in the third quarter when Momo ran the ball 108 yards for a touchdown. With the convert by Bonhomme, the Panthers led 21-7.

After the Cumberland lead got extended to 23-7 with a safety, the Panthers made it 30-7 in the fourth quarter when Bonhomme caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Schad in the fourth quarter.

...

Momo led the Panthers with 198 yards rushing on five carries in addition to a 10-yard catch.

Vaillancourt finished the day with 53 yards receiving on a pair of catches.

OSFL varsity action between the Sault Sabercats and Cumberland Panthers at Superior Heights on July 9, 2022.Brad Coccimiglio/SooToday

"Get Excited!" (For the OSFL's Myers Riders Roster)

I first saw the Cumberland Panthers announcing commitments to their Ontario Summer Football League program on Instagram but Myers Riders have been doing it for a while now as well. Cumberland's efforts were mentioned here so it seems only fair to do the same for Myers.

I love seeing a little hype being generated for the coming season while making some of these names feel more familiar. Keep it up, everyone, please.

Let's get to know Ethan's game a little better through his Hudl profile.  

Myers' Instagram account can be found here and Cumberland's here.

Cumberland Panthers Announce 2022 Commitments

I'm enjoying what the Cumberland Panthers are doing on Instagram these days. Similarly to how universities name their incoming commitments, the Panthers are making a point of letting us know who intends to be on their senior university team in the OSFL next summer.

There's a general Panthers account but also one specific to the Senior Varsity team, which is worth a follow.

As for Jaylen specifically, here is his 2021 highlights video.

Back when I was able to attend Myers Riders or Cumberland games simply as a fan, it was often brought to my attention how unusual that was. I'd get asked which kid I was there to watch and the answer of  "all of them" seemed to confuse the person asking. 

But that was the honest truth. I like being able to say that I watched Brendan Gillanders at Sir Wilfrid Laurier prior to his time with the Gee-Gees and the REDBLACKS, for example. Why do we love our "local" REDBLACKS yet make so little effort to support them when they're on their way up?

I appreciate that the Panthers are getting player names and faces out there for a little recognition. For that matter, good on them for continuing to keep the team's name and logo in view during the offseason. There is no downside to this.

Myers Riders 2013 Varsity Championship

It was a bit of a surprise, and bummer, to read that Myers Riders would not be fielding summer clubs this year.

This club is woefully overlooked and underappreciated. It has been competing at multiple levels for years and usually with great success. Many of its players have gone on pro careers. They get some press, most notably from Tim Baines of the Ottawa Sun, but otherwise go largely ignored by the general public.

The following is a portion of a bio for one of their varsity coaches.

Appeared in the Ontario Varsity Football League Provincial Championships in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, won 2 back to back Provincial Championships in 2013 and 2014, set the record at the Varsity level for being the only team to have appeared in 4 straight Provincial Championships and going undefeated for 3 regular season in a row, as well as breaking 11 all-time offensive records.

At the time that my previous website went tits up (some time in 2013, I believe), I commented that "Myers Riders joined the Ontario Varsity Football League in 2001 after a dominant run in the Ontario Minor Football League at that age group. ...the varsity club is routinely competitive, having yet (unless the gaps in my research prove me wrong) to post a losing record in the OVFL."

We'll focus on the 2013 edition for now and hope for a return in 2019. The photography is from an Ottawa Sun recap, however, but I don't know to whom to give credit.

Niagara Falls Review - There were more than 1,400 fans at Kiwanis Field Saturday night and the Niagara Spears looked like they had everything in place to win the Ontario Varsity Football League championship. 

The Ottawa Myers Riders, howeer, had other plans for who would be wearing the 2013 varsity championship ring. 

... 

The Riders came into the game undefeated at 10-0 and were well worth the price of admission. 

Overall, Riders quarterback Nick Gorgichuk completed 24 passes for 299 yards and three touchdowns, putting an exclamation point on his record-breaking season in which he threw for more than 4,000 yards in just 11 games. 

“This team set 17 OVFL records this year, and he (Gorgichuk) is the best quarterback I have ever seen in this league,” Riders coach Max Palladino said as his team celebrated their first varsity championship. 

... 

The Spears actually went ahead 3-0 on a Michael Domagala field goal to start the game, but the Riders came back with a vengeance, scored three straight touchdowns in the next 12 minutes and surged ahead 21-3. 

The Spears put together a 70-yard drive in the middle of the second quarter and had the crowd and momentum on their side as they looked poised to score. But Spears quarterback Blair Robertson’s pass was intercepted by Riders linebacker Brad Herbst, who ran the ball back 85 yards to give his team a 25-point lead. 

Early in the second half, the Spears didn’t give up and their defence came up big with a two-point safety, which also returned the ball to their offence. The ensuing drive, however, ended in another interception thrown by Robertson. The Riders then put the game away when they took a 23-point lead with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Gorgichuk to wide receiver Kory Morgan. 

... 

The Scoop 

Spears 20 - Riders 42

St. Catharines Standard Star of the Game: Ottawa quarterback Nick Gorgichuk with 299 passing yards and three touchdown completions. 

... 

For the Myers Riders: Offence: Jonathon Cimankinda, 59 yards rushing and two touchdowns; Kory Morgan, 135 yards receiving and two touchdowns; Jaeger Prot, 24 yards receiving and touchdown; Connor Ayre, six extra-point conversions; Defence: Jordan Gorgichuk, interception; Brad Herbst, interception. 

I was fortunate enough to stumble into a full roster for the team which, apparently, I copied from the OVFL website five years ago. Yay me for thinking ahead! Players in red were all-star team selections.

 1  QB Gorgichuk, Nick     
 2  LB Butler, Justin     
 3  QB Jones, Costa      
 4  DB Laing-Richardson, Cam    
 5  RB Cimankinda, Jonathan    
 6  LB Cimankinda, Alain    
 7  QB Duffy, Matt     
 9  WR Charles, Rouben      
10  WR Krzaniak, Nick     
11  WR Malenfant, Cassidy      
14  DB Jean-Baptiste, Philip   
16  QB Sheahan, Kyle      
19  WR Bradley, Mathieu      
20  DB Gorgichuk, Jordon      
21  DB Smyth, Graham     
22  DB Elliott, Ty     
23  RB Tanti, Keenan     
24  DB Pierce, Daley     
25  WR Taha, Hussein     
26  RB Guest, Andrew     
29  LB Ramos, Vicente    
30  DB Doucette, Jordan  
31  RB Ferron, Jahdel    
32  DB Matthews, Taylor  
33  RB Keenan, Charlie   
34  WR Barrie, Kiell     
35  WR Morgan, Kory      
36  RB Legault, Jacob    
39  RB Moore, Julien     
42  DL Ferris, Scott  
44  DB Henselwood, Mitchell     
45  LB Herbst, Brad      
47  LB Bakshi, Akash      
48  DB Clayton, Jackson      
50  LB Fletcher, Kyrique  
51  LB Bonhomme, Ben      
53  OL Johnson, Will      
54  OL Butt, Kris      
55  OL Scott, Richard    
56  DL Bonifacio, Mark   
57  OL Bolumbe, Gedeon   
58  DL Allarie, John     
59  OL Pisani, Josef     
60  OL Young, Tyler      
61  SB Lachance, Jason   
63  OL Brakus, Andrew    
64  OL Lukusa, Paul     
65  OL Rowlands, Thomas  
67  OL Redmond, Conor  
68  DL Caissie, Paul  
70  PK Ayre, Connor   
73  LB Buckley, Jason 
75  WR Cenatus, Eddy 
76  DL Adams, Brett 
77  SB Prot, Jaegar     
83  SB Trunzo, Vincenzo 
84  SB Papalia, Joseph 
85  DB Pankow, Patrick 
88  DB Urbani, Nicolas 
91  DL Dervisevic, Jasmin 
92  DL Bolton, Parker 
93  DL Parker, Cabe 
99  DL Derdzinski, James