Follow TVRAA football in the London Free Press. Saturday, October 5, 2002 Lions gain separation from pack By STEVE GREEN, Free Press Sports Reporter  As the final seconds ticked away yesterday, South quarterback Ted Bell nervously paced the sidelines. Only when the game was over could he exhale, knowing he and the rest of the Lions had gained some valuable breathing room. The 25-15 United Way senior high school football win over the Saunders Sabres improved the Lions to 3-0, tied for first in the TVRAA Central West with the CCH Crusaders. The loss dropped the Sabres to 1-2 along with the Aquinas Flames, and with the 2-1 Central Golden Ghosts still having to play CCH, a three-way battle for the division's final two playoff spots could be shaping up. South scored on its first two possessions -- Bell hitting Jeremy Mitchell on a 36-yard scoring pass and Tyler Ullerick running it in from four yards out. Chris Ullerick's one-yard TD plunge and Bell's 17-yard field goal in the fourth made it 25-7, but the Sabres battled back to make it 25-15 with 1:13 left on a 61-yard screen play from Matt Carapella to Andrew Hopkins, with Carapella running for the two-point convert. The pair had hooked up on a nine-yard TD play in the second quarter. "We came out on fire but we hit a stall there in the second and third quarter," said Bell, who kicked two converts, two singles and a 17-yard field goal. "And they had some nice trick plays that worked against us. But it was nice to see our team play so hard and see our offensive line block so well. "That was by far the hardest game we've had all year.'' The Lions' running game was its usual solid self, with John Sonier leading the way with 11 carries for 85 yards. "John Sonier has stepped forward to become a leader on this team,'' said South head coach Chris Marcus. "He works harder than anyone else in practice. He's got a bit of a quad injury but on that long drive (to start the second half), he said he wanted the ball, so we gave him the ball.'' On the final play of the first half, Chris Ullerick brought Mo Fadel of the Sabres down at the South one after Fadel had taken a screen pass 74 yards. That and two second-half turnovers that led to 10 South points made for a "what if'' scenario for Saunders head coach Greg Thurston. "What if we'd played better?'' he said. "We started our slowly, like we always seem to do, and we dug ourselves too big a hole to get out of. They're too good a team to have that many turnovers and not block well at the point of attack and still be successful against. "But our guys didn't quit. I like our chances the rest of the way. We've just got to put four quarters of football together and we haven't done that yet.'' LIONS 25 SABRES 15 Rams 13, Titans 1 Laurier, which saw its program fold after one game last season, registered its first senior win since 1999 by beating Regina Mundi. Big plays helped the Rams. Bronson Deagle scored on a one-yard run one play after the Titans fumbled a punt, and Mo Chames returned an interception 79 yards against a strong wind. The Rams also came up with a couple of big fourth-down stops, including one on their own one-yard line. "This is huge. Wow,'' said Rams head coach Roy Cossit. "I'm just amazed we got the football program back again.'' Janko Stukic boomed a wind-aided 81-yard punt single for the Titans. Broncos 35, Wildcats 13 Tim Richards ran back the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown but Banting came back with several big plays of its own to beat Westminster for its first win of the season. Tyson Sinclair scored on a 56-yard run and Matt Stuart went 65 yards for another as the Broncos surged ahead to stay. Ben Cole tossed TD passes of 15 and 20 yards to Tyler Mathies and Abdul Zubair while Adam Slomer ran two yards for the other Banting major. Stu Bell converted all five. Peter Sum scored the other Westminster touchdown with Justin Finnemore converting. Ghosts win Spirit Award The Central Golden Ghosts, beat the Aquinas Flames 21-16 in a thriller Thursday and were backed by several hundred noisy fans, won the Spirit Award as voted on by a panel of judges. The award is based on teams' on-field performance and comportment as well as the participation of its fans. 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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