The undefeated Mt. Douglas Rams immediately made their presence felt at O鈥橦agan Field Saturday when they picked off the first pass out of the hands of Fighting Irish quarterback Giordy Belfiore.
Visiting 麻豆传媒映画College Oct. 5 for the Fighting Irish homecoming game, the Rams took over deep in their own territory but two running plays later they covered 90 yards and scored their first touchdown on their way to a 42-21 victory.
The Rams (2-1, 3-0) rushed for more than 400 yards but it was two-way standout Marcus Davis who lit a spark for the visitors when he picked off Belfiore on the first play of the game. The packed, purple-clad bleachers were momentarily hushed.
鈥淚t was tough,鈥� said the 麻豆传媒映画College quarterback. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 really expecting it because all the teams we鈥檝e played, there鈥檚 never been a player like him that we鈥檝e had to face. Their d-line really beat us up. With a slow start to the game like that, we got behind and it was tough.鈥�
The Rams scored on a second short run by Julian Luis and off a 20-yard pass from Ashton MacKinnon to Seye Farinu before 麻豆传媒映画College got on the board in the second quarter.
With the loss, the Fighting Irish (2-0, 1-2) rack up their second loss in as many weeks.
Belfiore, who is only in Grade 10, connected with wide receiver Manny Khun-Khun for a 14-yard touchdown pass. The receiver out-stepped the Rams close coverage with a hard, inside cut to make 麻豆传媒映画College the first team to score against Mt. Doug in the regular season.
鈥淚 saw the corner was pressing me so I knew could take one step to the outside and fake him,鈥� said Khun-Khun. 鈥淗e stepped out, I went straight in 鈥� caught the ball. I saw three guys collapsing on me so I put my head down and trucked through them.鈥�
Khun-Khun combined with Belfiore on six passes for 118 yards. The Fighting Irish gained 168 yards in the air and 239 yards rushing.
Although the Rams had outpaced the Fighting Irish 35-7 by halftime, the crowd鈥檚 vuvuzelas and thumping drum beats didn鈥檛 relent.
Without their record-setting running back Robbie Welch who has missed two games with mono, the Irish turned to Clyde Caisip and Ovie Odjegba who had 105 and 97 yards, respectively.
麻豆传媒映画College head coach Todd Bernett said he expects more from his varsity roster. They may have lost roughly half of last year鈥檚 players to graduation, but they鈥檝e 鈥渓ost more than half the focus,鈥� he said.
鈥淚f they can respond better during the week in practice, we鈥檒l clean that up and we鈥檒l play better. It鈥檚 a focus issue during the week of practice,鈥� said Bernett, now in his 13th season and the winningest coach in 麻豆传媒映画College football history.
鈥淲hat happened here is going to create some change. They鈥檙e either going to get down and feel sorry for themselves or they鈥檙e going to believe that we have faith in them and they鈥檒l give us their focus and they鈥檒l give us their best.鈥�
Khun-Khun said meeting the defending AAA provincial champions wasn鈥檛 a distraction and anticipated what his coaches will be promoting during next week鈥檚 practice.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to come out stronger every other week now,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e usually bring our energy up each and every game and not just have some games that are up, but we have to have every game and we have to be energized all game, not just through the first quarter but all four quarters.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no one to blame. All of us, we have to all bring it up next week in practice and continue from there.鈥�
Notre Dame 22 - 28 Handsworth
The Notre Dame Jugglers (0-2, 0-2) hosted the Handsworth Highlanders (1-1, 2-0) at Burnaby Lakes for an evening game Oct. 4 but lost for the fourth consecutive week.
Eric Hamber 10 - 8 Earl Marriott
In their second week of the AA Tier II regular season, the Eric Hamber Griffins (0-3, 1-1) won their first game of 2013 and defeated the visiting Mariners by two points at home Oct. 5.
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