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Lions are back with a roarSouth defeats Catholic Central for its first senior high school football title since '84 to advance to the OFSAA Western Bowl Friday in Toronto.
By STEVE GREEN -- London Free Press
"It's the greatest feeling in the world,'' said Bowlby, voted the game's most valuable player on the basis of his outstanding two-way effort. "We knew we had to keep it up, that we couldn't let them back in. And when it mattered most, we came through. "This is surreal. The coaches, the O-line -- everyone did their job. There are 12 MVPs on the field for us every play. There are 36 MVPs on the team, really.'' Bowlby finished with 104 yards on 13 carries, Kyle 101 yards on 14 carries. The third horseman in the backfield, Tyler McTavish, added 89 yards on 15 carries as the misdirection offence rolled up 325 yards on the ground. "We've been waiting all our lives for this,'' Kyle said. "There's a new team to watch in London and it's the South Lions. And give full credit to our offensive line. They opened the holes, we just followed them. "We've beaten the No. 1 team in london, the No. 2 team in Ontario and the No. 3 team in all of Canada, so it's time we got some respect.'' The Lions advance to the OFSAA Western Bowl on Friday at Toronto's SkyDome against the LaSalle Sandwich Sabres, who beat the Guelph Ross Royals 31-0 in the day's final game. "Win or lose that game, it doesn't matter,'' Kyle said. "This was our goal all year.'' South head coach Chris Marcus said his team's cohesiveness was a major factor. "As corny as it sounds, we ate dinner together at the school (Friday) night and watched Remember The Titans,'' he said. "There's a ton of synergy on this team. There's not one kid on this team I wouldn't do anything for and a lot of these kids did this for the ones who didn't get the chance last year (when South had no football). And I've got to give a lot of credit to our junior coaches . . . the fundamentals are taught there. "They are an unbelievable team,'' he added of the Crusaders. "We knew we were in for it, but we said all along if we were going to beat anyone, it was fitting we beat the best. There's no one I have more respect for than (CCH head coach) Mike Circelli.'' Down by 17 midway through the third quarter, the Crusaders bounced back. Jamaal John, who had a splid two-way effort himself, bulled over from three yards out and Howard hit Drew Irvine with a 29-yard TD pass 54 secodns into the final quarter. Marc Ross, who converted both scores and kicked a 17-yard field goal of his own, made it 20-18 on a kickoff single after Irvine's major. But that was as close as the Crusaders would get, despite a frantic finish. "That's the kind of pride we have as a football team,'' Circelli said of his team's rally. "I told the kids at halftime that I've never had a team quit on me yet and they didn't quit for one minute. We just ran out of time.'' The Crusaders lose very few players to graduation, especially in the skill positions and along the offensive line, so they'll be strong again next year. "That's no consolation,'' Circelli said. "We never came here once trying to make it close. We came here to win.'' Meanwhile, the Saunders Sabres were named the winners of the Jim Casburn Award, presented by the referees' association to the team best showing sportsmanship. Casburn was a former referee and director of parks and recreation for the City of London.
This article was originally published in the London Free Press and on the London Free Press web site (www.fyilondon.com/londonfreepress). The London Free Press took the article down so a link to it no longer worked. This is my personal use copy, if you want this article please follow the London Free Press Copyright terms.
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