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Lions cap a perfect season with another title
Powerhouse team defeats St. Léonard for bantam football crown
John Meagher
The Gazette
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The North Shore Lions have done it again.
The powerhouse Lions capped another perfect season Sunday with a 17-8 win over the host St. Léonard Cougars in the Quebec Bantam Football League championship game.
The Lions improved their sparkling record to 13-0 with a stellar defensive performance that kept their east-end opponents at bay at chilly Stade Hébert.
“Our defence really showed up to play,” said Lions head coach Jason Jourdenais.
The defending champion Lions were favoured to win handily, but St. Léonard proved to be a worthy opponent.
“I have a lot of respect for the Cougars,” Jourdenais said. “They worked hard and really prepared well for us. They had our ticket and our number and threw everything they had at us.”
Unfavourable playing conditions shelved any kind of aerial attack.
“It was cold and extremely windy, so the passing game for both teams went down the drain,” Jourdenais said.
The cold weather didn’t stop Lions running back Andrew Hopkins, who led the way offensively with a pair of rushing touchdowns. His second TD, a spectacular 85-yard run in the fourth quarter, clinched the win.
“That was the game-changing score,” remarked Jourdenais.
“It wouldn’t have mattered if we won by one point or by 30 points,” he added. “A win is a win and that’s all that matters at the end of the day.”
Linebacker Trevor Cernivz, who anchored the Lions defence, was selected as his team’s MVP.
Because the QBFL did not compete for a provincial crown this year, the Lions were unable to lay claim to a fifth consecutive provincial championship.
Does a QBFL crown have the same prestige as a provincial championship?
“No. I’ll classify it as a 31st championship,” Jourdenais said. “There’s not much more I can say than that.”
Other members of the 2009 champions are Killian Moore, Taevon Nesfield, Chris Cione, Jordan Tyrell, Johnathan Doughlin, Vincent Bourgon, Shawn Steen, Benoit Mailly, Eric Paquette, Mitchell Desmarteau, Evan Wiley, Tyrin Rose-Eisan, Ernst Pierre, Kevin Kyere, Davide Santilli, Chris Watson, Andrey Ageev, Kyle McGuigan, Patrick Smith, Thomas Quinn, Kasey Fukunaga, Glody Bomolo, Francis Chiquette, Matthew DeCarlo, Scott Wilson, Cory Sim-Robertson, Jemmis Violonchi, Astley Estimé, Glodi Munanga, Jonathan Alaei, Daniel Tomeo, Mohammed Rifai, Kyeon Nicely, Cory Lazlo, Steven Besner, Malcom Watt, Jay MacKay, William Page, Kaleem Gopaul, Kadeem Nurse, Irving Fosu, Dimitri Divolis, Gabriel Dansereau and Steven Gill.