The Sudbury Jr Spartans were not about to look past the Clarington Knights.

With both the U16 and U18 Sudbury squads playing well in recent weeks and the visiting Knights struggling (a combined record of 1-5 for the two Clarington teams entering the Saturday matchups), the situation was ripe for an over-confident group of local teenagers to look right past the opponent directly ahead, with some key contests still remaining.

Things did not play out that way as the U16 Jr Spartans blanked the Knights 44-0 while the local U18 crew also won handily, 42-7 over the visitors from just east of Toronto.

"We just tried to shut down their run game first and establish dominance on the passing side also, at the same time," noted veteran U18 defensive tackle Jaden Brennen, his unit surrendering one big play (long TD pass to Garrett Veshquer) but otherwise stifling Clarington at each and every turn.

"We would stick our defensive backs man up on that big tight end they have and that worked well."

The big three on offense were at it again as Quin Mazzuchin (3 TDs), Braedan Beggs (2 TDs) and Koen Palmquist (TD + 6 PATs) handled all of the scoring for Sudbury, with the Spartans up 21-0 at the half and not letting up a whole lot in the final twenty-four.

Despite the absence of star running back Levi Blouin (who could be excused as he was busy winning OFSAA gold in the 100m hurdles in Toronto), the U16 Jr Spartans completely dominated the Knights, bolting to a 35-0 after two quarters of play and forcing straight time on the clock in the second half.

Everybody seemingly got into the act as Sudbury majors were registered by Noah Arsenault, Evan DeMarchi, Kade Campbell, Noah Skrobot, Holden Beange and Emmanuel Appiah-Hagan (pick six), with Cameron Quesnel going six for six in the point after department.

Throw in a safety that was awarded to Thomas Mullaly, just for good measure, and you now have a pair of Sudbury teams both sporting records of 3-1 and both getting ready to play two of their final three games on the road, including a huge northern rivalry trek west to Sault Ste Marie on July 5th.

"We have to focus on keeping our heads cooler down there because we never know what the environment will be like," said Brennen, looking ahead to the U18 encounter with the Toronto Jr Argos next Saturday, with the younger locals battling the York Lions the very next day.

"And we want to be establishing our dominance at their field early, getting a jump on them early," added Brennen.