It took a stellar defensive effort but the Sudbury U18 Jr Spartans were able to hit the win column for the first time this year, downing the York Lions 20-7 on the road on Saturday.

Up only 5-0 at the break, the locals increased their advantage to 18-0 before the Lions capitlized on the absence of Sudbury starters in the game, "ripping off a long run" in the words of Spartans head coach Alex Vendramin for their only score of the game.

"We were able to rally off our defense in that game," added Vendramin, his team improving to 1-2 with a bye week ahead. "Our defense was shutting them down, giving us a short field. Our offense took a little time to get going."

"They had a really stout front seven and they were trying to shut down our run game," suggested Vendramin. "We stuck with it and kept going and threw in a little play action. It ended up working out. We got a few runs going and that allowed us to throw the ball as well."

On the board initially thanks to a Paolo Grossi field goal and a safety touch when the Lions took a knee in their end zone, the U18 Jr Spartans received second half touchdowns through the air from Steven Sola and Quin Mazzuchin, with Braedan Beggs in at pivot for both majors.

With Sola's elbow slightly banged up, having Beggs waiting in the wings is a luxury for which the Sudbury staff is thankful. "It's really nice to have those two guys because they can kind of flip back and forth," said Vendramin.

Defensively, there were plenty of kudos to go around as Vendramin noted the play of middle linebacker Chris Dore ("he had a really, really good game"), Quentin Harris ("really helped out on the run game") and linemen Ryan Sooley and Scott Coles ("just not getting pushed back and allowing our linebackers to flow to the ball").

For this game at least, praise was everywhere to be found.

"I think we played as a team fo the whole game for the first time this season," said Vendramin. "The guys were awesome on the bench, building each other up. When they got into the game, they made plays."

The spark, however, would come from the unit that surrendered but one late major.

"We were able to rally off our defense in that game," said Vendramin. "Our defense was shutting them down, giving us a short field - and in the second half, our execution in general was good."

"We didn't necessarily score on all of our drives, but we were able to move the ball a fair bit and play that game of field position and hem them back."

The Sudbury U16 Jr Spartans, meanwhile, fell to 0-3, beaten 35-10 by the undefeated York Lions. Both local teams will enjoy a bye week before resuming play on home on June 15th as the northern lads play host to the Vaughan Rebels.