Cornwall Wildcats rainy day activity is 28-0 past Brampton

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It was a wet and wild Saturday afternoon on Joe St. Denis Field and Cornwall cruised past Brampton for a second win of the campaign.

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Wild cats in Ontario Summer Football League U18 Division AAA action is now 2-1 after a decisive 28-0 victory over the Bulldogs, with Cornwall’s offensive line capitalizing on Brampton’s fumbles and the defensive line keeping opponents out of the end zone for the entire 60 minutes.

Even so, Wildcats head coach Alex Labonté says he still sees plenty of room for improvement.

“Offensively, we had about 15 drives, (and) there were three times we were in the red zone in the first half and we weren’t able to capitalize,” Labonté said after an afternoon of action mostly wet, when there was plenty of room for improvement in the weather, some of it arriving in the form of occasional sunny, dry spells along the way.

And while Labonté was glad the Wildcats came out victorious, he says what he saw Saturday wasn’t a complete game.

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If that sounds a harsh note, it’s because Cornwall has big plans for the 2024 campaign. In short, the Wildcats have their sights set on winning the league championship and “anything else is a failure,” Labonté said.

“Last year, we were one game away from the championship. Two years ago, we made it to the championship game. This year, we want to win it all.”

Last year, the Wildcats went through most of the spring and summer before tasting defeat. This season, and just last week, they lost 16-9 to the Niagara Spears.

“That was a good improvement (from a week earlier), but there are a lot of points left on the field today,” Labonté said.

The statistics may confirm this. This year, the Wildcats have scored 62 points in three games. Their record ranks them third in the league’s East Division, averaging 20.67 points per game, fourth best in the eight-team division.

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More impressively, the Wildcats have allowed just 39 runs scored against them this season, an average of 13 points per game. This is the best in the East, although the 4-0 Durham Dolphins are breathing right down Cornwall’s neck, averaging 13.5 points allowed per game.

As for Saturday’s game, the Wildcats scored their first touchdown while the game was still young. Soon after, Wildcat Keegan Aragon-McCann intercepted a Bulldogs pass and Cornwall scored on the ensuing drive. This was probably the turning point of the game as Brampton failed to generate much offense, 14-0 being a pretty deep hole.

The Wildcats’ coaching staff didn’t let their players rest on their laurels, even though they entered the second half with a substantial lead.

“We tell guys not to ride the wave,” Labonté said. “We tell them to play a complete game. Treat each quarter like a game. Treat each half like a game. Always assume the score is zero-zero. The job of our defensive line is to stop the other team from scoring, no matter what the score is.”

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