Splitting the uprights from 25 yards out with 1:04 remaining in the game, Confederation Chargers kicker not only helped his team clinch first place with a 24-22 win over the St Benedict Bears Friday night at the James Jerome Sports Complex, but also ensured that the Chargers would become almost certainly the only SDSSAA senior football team to ever register three ties in the same season.
With a record of 3-0-2 and the win in the head to head matchup, the Chargers guaranteed themselves top spot over St Benedict, who are back in action on Monday afternoon, facing the St Charles College Cardinals in the rescheduled encounter from a week ago Friday (October 9th).
The Confed - St Ben's battle was just the latest in a series of nail-biters this fall, with the Bears opening the scoring courtesy of a 14 yard TD pass from QB Evan DeMarchi to slotback Brendan Goffin.
An unsuccessful convert attempt opened the door to a Chargers lead heading into quarter two as Domadius Aziz ran the counter in from the one yard line on the final play of the opening period, adding the extra point on his own major moments later.
A field goal by Gabe Matozzo (STB) and touchdown run from Ryley Clarke (CFD) made the score 14-9 Chargers at the half, with the latter extending their lead early in the third thanks to another ramble from Clarke.
Cue the Bears comeback as DeMarchi hooked up with Moshood Adeleye (30 yard receiving TD) and James Alabi (12 yard run) evened the game at 21-21, with Matozzo giving the Bears a lead with his PAT.
A return of roughly 70 yards or so on the ensuing kickoff by Cameron Quesnel gave Confederation outstanding field position with time winding down - though it would take the Chargers a couple of cracks and a high snap from the Bears to finally regain the lead.
"It was just a matter of getting my head up and following my lead block," said Quesnel after the game, discussing his key kickoff runback. "I saw the gap and bounced in and then it's head down and go."
Thankfully, he was equally alert at the very end of his run as success nearly turned to disaster. "Someone punched it (the football) out while hitting me and I was like: it's in my legs; I need that."
The two touchdown performance for Clarke gives the Barrie native who moved north with his family and older brother Braxton (a member of the championship Sault Cougars football team this fall) a total of 12 on the year, a real breakthrough for the young man who lined up at tight end in each of the past two campaigns.
"Shane (coach Shane Hutchinson) gave me a chance in training camp, told me I had to fight for that spot and it ended up working," said Clarke, now in grade 12. "I am surprised at how comfortable I feel there."
"There were speed bumps along the way, but every practice, I felt like I was getting better and better."
After walking off as city champs for the first time in 20 years last fall, the Chargers opened the 2026 season with a 42-42 tie with St Charles, despite returning a nice core of talent, especially along the lines.
"That game really affected us," said Clarke. "We came in with a bad attitude, thinking we would roll the city. That settled us down and we got back to where we needed to be."
That said, all four playoff teams have served notice that they deserve mention in any chatter of SDSSAA supremacy this fall, a fact that the talented young man who is following in his brother's footsteps was not about to dispute.
"Every team has shown why they should win a championship," said Clarke. "We just need to put our heads down, get numbers up at practice and play hard-hitting Confederation football, really physical football."
The Cardinals continue to enjoy their most successful season, by far, in recent memory, thumping the Lively Hawks (1-4-0) 36-0 in the opening game on Friday. Noah Arsenault (3 TDs) and Fahad Abdulrahman (2 TDs) showed the way offensively for St Charles.
Emmanuel Appiah-Hagan (4 converts) and Sele Arewa (a 2-pt conversion) closed out the scoring for SCC, who can still finish in second place with a win over St Benedict on Monday.
With the hopes of evening games extinguished due to recent safety concerns at James Jerome and little else in play in terms of playoff implications, the Lo-Ellen Park Knights vs Lockerby Vikings game was cancelled (with word coming out late Saturday that the same might hold true for the St Benedict vs St Charles game on Monday).
