The Banting Marauders made good in their final games of the regular season shutting down the St. Joan of Arc Knights in back-to-back home games at Banting Memorial High School, last Wednesday.
The Banting Junior squad shut out St. Joan 13-0 in a game that saw the Marauders go into defensive mode in the second half to stop the Knights from making a comeback.
The Seniors followed up in the second game delivering a 20-13 win over the visitors.
Junior Game
The Junior team took the lead when Mike Gautreau ran in for the first of his two touchdowns, and Davis Spencer kicked the convert to give Banting a seven-point advantage early in the game.
The squad found themselves in scoring position again in the second quarter, when Jayden Norcross made a near-impossible recovery on an interception when a long pass bounced off a receiver’s fingertips and Norcross snagged the ball as he hit the ground.
The Banting team started a first down on the six-yard line but a 10-yard holding penalty squashed their chances and the half ended with St. Joan in control of the ball.
The second half started with the Knights deep in their own end and trying to battle their way out.
Brandon Taylor crashed through the line to take down the quarterback and St. Joan had to kick to get out of their end.
Gautreau got his second goal of the game when he caught a long pass and ran for 45 yards to give the Banting team some insurance in the fourth quarter.
The Banting defence held toughfor the remainder of the quarter keeping the Knights in midfield with no time to score before the clock ran out.
The win gives the Junior team a 4-2 record for the season and a good position going into the playoff round.
Senior Game
The Senior game was a good lesson in how motivation can turn a team around.
The Knights opened the scoring early in the game on a long pass into the end zone to go ahead by six.
The Marauders had some success keeping the Knights pinned down including a blocked punt by Mike Lake that left St. Joan in a bad field position.
Banting receiver Scott Wilson made a huge catch in the second quarter from deep inside Marauders territory to bring the squad to the 50 but after that the team seemed to have trouble keeping it together, falling apart during several key plays.
The turnaround came when the offensive squad was called together for a sideline chat.
After that, Banting pulled it
together and turned the tide in their favour.
Quarterback Colin Hutterer threw for 30 yards to Scott Wilson who caught the pass in the end zone to tie it up. A successful kick by Mike Palazzolo gave Banting a one-point lead.
The defensive squad kept the Knights pinned at midfield with some hard hits by Connor Murphy and Cameron Waslenko.
The half ended with Pat Conry crashing the line and making a QB sack on the last play.
The Marauders took control of the second half when St. Joan was pinned in their end and forced to punt from the 15-yard line.
Runningback Bobby Troop made a hard drive and crossed the goal to extend the Marauders lead to eight.
Banting sealed the game in the fourth quarter when Alex Addorisio ran wide and made some hard turns to shake off the defenders and drop the Marauders on the 12-yard line. Addoriso followed up on the next play with a tough run through the line to score.
The Knights scored late in the game but couldn’t make up the deficit before the final play.
With the regular season behind them, the Seniors go into the playoffs with a split 4-2 record which could work in their favour.
The squad lost a couple of games this season that could have gone either way so the middle of the pack standing could place them in good position going toward the finals.
