Box Score
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Through the first two weeks of the 2017 OUA football season, the Waterloo Warriors proved that they can win when everything clicks. But on Saturday afternoon against the Toronto Varsity Blues, they proved they can win even when it doesn't.
Veteran slotback Richmond Nketiah (Brampton/) hauled in a pair of receiving touchdowns, and the Wateroo defence came up with three interceptions as the Warriors moved to 3-0 on the season with a gutsy 28-23 victory over the Varsity Blues in front of 3,645 fans at a raucous Black and Gold day at Warrior Field.
"The boys answered the bell. I'm proud of them," said Waterloo Head Coach Chris Bertoia. "To win a game 28-23, those are the games we need to win as a program to continue to build that kind of steel resolve, and understand that, in tight situations, we can win, and we can answer the bell."
The victory marks the first time since 2007 that the Warriors have started a season with three straight wins. It's also the second home victory for Waterloo in the last five days, after going without a win at Warrior Field for nearly five years. Meanwhile, the Blues dropped to 1-2 on the young season, after a fourth-quarter comeback attempt came up short.
"It was just the playcalling and the execution," said Nketiah about his big day offensively. "All week, we prepared, the coaches drew up all the coverages that we might be seeing, and honestly, its exactly what we saw."
The Warriors once again employed a platoon at quarterback, as veteran Lucas McConnell (Waterford/) and rookie Tre Ford (Niagara Falls/) shared time throughout the first half. McConnell went 18-25 for 191 yards and a touchdown, while Ford went 3-3 with a touchdown, and added 69 yards in 7 carries. But the rookie was forced out of the game early in the second half with an injury, leaving McConnell to secure the win.
The defense relied upon playmaking to put their stamp on the game, as Warriors defensive back Sammy Prantera (St. Catharine's/) snuffed out Toronto's first drive of the afternoon with an end zone interception off Toronto quarterback and NCAA transfer Conner Ennis. Shaquille Sealy (London/) and Lautaro Frecha (Sault Ste. Marie/) also added momentum-shifting interceptions off Blues backup quarterback Clay Sequeira, who came into replace Ennis in the second half.
The Warriors also used some trickery in the win: leading 3-1 early in the second quarter, and lining up to go for it on third down and 10 from midfield, McConnell instead flicked a pooch punt. Receiver Blair McKay (Waterford/) raced downfield and caught the ball off a bounce, setting up Waterloo deep in Toronto territory. Two plays later, Nketiah settled down in a defensive weak spot and grabbed a 5-yard pass from Ford for the major, making it 10-1.
"That's just something we've been practicing a bit," said Bertoia. "Both of our quarterbacks, plus Mitch Kernick (Elmira/), all three of those guys can punt, so we've just looked at different options of doing things on third downs."
The Blues responded later in the quarter with an 11-yard TD reception by Wacey Schell, but the Warriors answered with just over a minute to play in the half, when McConnell floated a 10-yard pass for Nketiah in the back corner of the end zone. Nketiah cradled the ball and kept his back foot inbounds to put Waterloo up 18-7 at the half.
The Ford injury in the third quarter seemed to momentarily deflate the stadium, and the Blues turned the tides with successive plays on either side of the ball – first, Toronto made a stop on 3rd and 7 from the midfield line, before Sequeira came in to rip a 55-yard touchdown bomb to Will Corby to cut the Waterloo lead to 18-14. Â
After the Sealy interception ended another Blues drive prematurely, McConnell hit McKay with a 41-yard bomb to McKay set up a 4-yard touchdown scamper from Brandon Metz (Cambridge/), making the score 25-14 after three quarters.
The visiting Blues wouldn't go away quietly though, and the combination of Sequeira's big arm and quick feet kept Waterloo's defence off-balance. The Warriors' saving grace was once again their big-play ability, as Frecha came up with Waterloo's third interception of the game – and second deep in their own territory – to maintain their lead early in the final quarter.
The teams exchanged field goals in the fourth before Sequeira scampered in for the major with 1:40 remaining in the game, making the score 28-23 after a failed two-point conversion. The Blues got the ball back in the final minute of the contest, but the Warriors' defensive secondary had one more stop in them to salt the game away: On 3rd and 5 from the Waterloo 47-yard line, Sequeira looked to have a completion to Jaykwon Thompson – except Sealy met the receiver just as the ball arrived, and he laid a thunderous hit on Thompson to send the ball falling to the turf, incomplete.
"When we're down, they're lifting us up," said Nketiah of his team's defense. "Those turnovers and that late hit (by Frecha), that was a game-making play."
The Warriors will now look to move to an improbable 4-0 on the season when they travel to the nation's capital to take on a dangerous and experienced Carleton Ravens team. Kickoff at MNP Park is scheduled for 1pm on Saturday, September 16.
