It looks like SDSSAA Junior Boys Football defensive units are still playing catch-up to the offenses across the four-team loop.

Armed with the advantage of four down football as well as a glut of young ball carriers that can flat out fly, schools are putting up points like they are going out of style.

The Lasalle Lancers and St Charles Cardinals combined for more than 70 as Colton Cooke registered three touchdowns and six converts (24 points in all), leading Lasalle to a 42-27 victory last Thursday at the James Jerome Sports Complex.

With touchdown runs of 12, 49 and 78 yards, Cooke was joined on the Lancers side of the scoresheet by quarterback Ryder Kirby (3 yard and one yard TD runs) as well as Deran Cooper (90 yard kickoff return).

Countering for St Charles were David Idehen with a pair of majors (30 yd and 6 yd runs), Zion Abiodun-Olaoke (4 yard run) and Moyo Olusola-Kuteyi (62 yard run), as well as Alessandro Moretta with three point afters.

A 15 year-old grade 10 student who also starred with the GSSC Impact U15 team that competed in the HDSL (Huronia District Soccer League) last summer, Cooke is showing pretty well, to say the least, in his first year with the gridiron sport.

"A lot of my friends played so they asked me to play for them last year," said Cooke. "I wasn't too sure then, but I kind of got convinced into doing it this year."

It didn't take long for the freshman running back to realize just how much of a contact sport football could be - as well as getting himself acclimatized to just that.

"At our practices, it's really intense," said Cooke. "It's really strict. And in the first game, those first couple of hits knock the wind out of you. You think you're not ready for this - but then you get used to it."

Or you avoid the hits altogether, something that Cooke was able to do from time to time.

"My offense is always opening holes for me, so I am ready to cut through and get my run," he said. "I don't mind too much running inside. It depends on how close the defense is for me to run wide or how big the hole is in the middle for me to run through."

Apparently, the St Benedict Jr Bears are also quite adept at opening up some holes as Samuel Julius, Lukas Coufal and Dylan Nelson all crossed the goal line twice each, with Michael Folino doing it once as the Bears remained unbeaten thanks to a 49-7 thumping of the Lively Hawks.

Mateo Bedoya capped off the St Benedict offense with seven converts while Karsyn St Amour (TD) and Cameron MacIntosh (PAT) managed to get the Hawks on the board.