Steelers pick up win over Sarnia (Video Highlights)
Sunday, June 24, 2012 by: Brad Coccimiglio
The Sault Steelers will head into a bye week with a .500 record.
The Steelers scored a 20-7 win over the Sarnia Imperials on Saturday night at Rocky DiPietro Field in Northern Football Conference action. The win moves the Steelers to 2-2 and marks their second straight victory on home field after a win over the Sudbury Spartans last Saturday evening.
The Steelers struggled to hold onto the football early on in the win with seven fumbles and an interception in the opening half though they came out fairly unscathed with the scored tied at seven at the half.
“Sometimes you just have a mental lapse when you’ve got the ball in your hands,” said Steelers coach Brandon Lewis. “You’re thinking about the next step, so these things happen in a game but when they came to that adversity, they stepped it up and started making the plays. It’s always about making that next play, not worrying about the play that just happened.”
Josh Gauthier was the hero in the fourth quarter running for a pair of touchdowns. An Aaron Bertolo reception at the Sarnia 2-yard line set up the go-ahead score for the Steelers. Matt Santos had his convert blocked but the Steelers had a 13-7 lead with just under two minutes remaining.
On the first play after the subsequent kickoff, Justin Sauerczopf intercepted a pass intended for Imperials receiver Joe Mason. Just 25 seconds later, Gauthier punched the ball in from 12-yards out and the Steelers sealed the win.
Gauthier finished the night with 162 yards rushing on 12 carries and a pair of majors in the win. As a team, the Steelers ran for 282 yards in the win. Steelers quarterback Mike Tassone completed eight of 15 passes for 168 yards. Receiver Jesse Hill caught three of those passes for 88 yards. Rob Green added 36 yards on a pair of catches, one of which was a 29 touchdown reception.
Defensively, Lewis finished the night with nine tackles. Ian Hazlett added seven tackles while Adam Ross had six in the win.
Steven Mati led the offensive attack for Sarnia with 97 yards receiving on six catches and a touchdown. On the defensive side of the ball, Robert Smith had 6.5 tackles for the Imperials.
Game Highlights (Video by Adam Gualtieri)
The Steelers now enjoy a bye week before returning to action on July 7 against Ottawa at home at Rocky DiPietro Field.
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OTHER SCORES
In other NFC action on Saturday night, Toronto Titans quarterback threw for 10 touchdown passes as the Titans blanked the Sudbury Spartans 70-0 in Sudbury. Denison finished the night having completed 28 of 30 passes and an interception in the win. The Titans had 504 passing yards in the win.
