With five teams battling it out for four playoff spots, the stage is set for a little chaos as the SDSSAA Senior Football League prepares for their fifth and final week of regular season play with triple-header action next Friday, October 18th.
Correction - two teams are safely through, though the top two placements still have to be decided as the Lo-Ellen Park Knights and Confederation Chargers played to a 21-21 tie on September 27th, leaving both teams sitting at 3-0-1, with one game to play.
It's below them where the real fun begins as the Lively Hawks kept their post-season hopes alive last Friday, grounding the St Charles College Cardinals 35-21 at the James Jerome Sports Complex.
"Lo-Ellen (28-23) and Lasalle (20-14) could have easily gone our way," noted wide receiver / defensive back / kicker Koen Palmquist, the grade 12 veteran who hauled in a 20 yard touchdown pass from Ian MacDonald and also added five converts along the way.
"We had to turn our season around and treat this like the playoffs."
The Hawks most certainly did.
Even with the win, the LDSS lads still find themselves at 1-3, meaning they will need both a win over the St Benedict Bears (already sitting at 2-2 with the Lasalle Lancers) - and then hope for the tie-breaker to go their way.
All of this with a depleted roster, with injuries taking a toll and forcing kep players to do double duty with regularity for head coach Reg Bonin and company. "A good thing we do cardio in practice, lots and lots of cardio," said Palmquist with a smile.
Aiden Fauteux (10 yard TD run), Kadin Broomhead (10 yard TD run), Nathan Drolet (45 yard interception return) and Ian MacDonald (4 yard TD run) also accounted for majors in a game that saw all of the scoring completed by half-time.
Great Origbo (TD runs of 11 and 58 yards) and Hayden Walsh (10 yard TD run) reached the end zone for the Cardinals, with Braxton Ragogna making good on all three PATs.
With their season on the line, the Hawks' defensive unit really came to play in the final 24 minutes.
"We just had to stay in our gaps," stressed Palmquist. "Don't come back when we see them flowing - just stay up. The corners and safety have the deep routes, everyone else has short."
Confederation once again dominated the battle at the line of scrimmage last Friday, blitzing the Lasalle Lancers 38-0 as Braedan Beggs enjoyed a stat-line to remember: two touchdowns, three field goals, two converts and a single.
Also chipping in on the Chargers attack were Quentin Harris and Evan Doyle, both with TDs, as well as Brody Rideout with a two-point conversion.
Finally, in a contest that got quite testy in the end, Lo-Ellen knocked off St Benedict 23-14 with Max Arnold, Joel Ankomah and Steven Sola crossing the goal line for the winners.
The balance of the scoring came courtesy of Luca Cucullo (three converts), with the Knights defence also recording a safety while Dylan Nelson and Dylan Bertin racked up six points each, both majors converted by Mateo Bedoya.
The schedule for the final week of regular season plays sees Lo-Ellen and Lasalle meeting in the early game (3:00), followed by Confederation and St Charles (5:15) and a scheduler's dream with St Benedict and Lively wrapping things up at 7:30 p.m.
