Knights thump Bears to advance to NOSSA final

A little bit of cold and snow wasn't about to slow down the speedy St. Mary's Knights attack.

Coming out firing on all cylinders, the Knights built a 42 point lead at the half and cruised to a 50-0 win over North Bay's St. Joseph-Scollard Hall Bears in the Northern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (NOSSA)semi-final game on Saturday afternoon at Rocky DiPietro Field.

The Knights will now host Sudbury's city champion in the NOSSA final next Saturday at 1 p.m.

The NOSSA champions then advance to the Northern Bowl against the Thunder Bay city champion at the Rogers Centre in Toronto on December 7. The Northern Bowl is part of the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Assocations (OFSAA) Bowl Series.

After the Bears fumbled on their second play from scrimmage, the Knights connected on their first offensive play as quarterback John Mullin hooked up with Mark DeVuono for a 25 yard touchdown pass.

Going three and out on their next possession, the Bears punted into the hands of DeVuono, who took it 62 yards for the major score and a 14-0 St. Mary's lead just 3:52 into the game.

After a 31 yard pass to DeVuono, Jeff Greco took over the show by pounding in a one yard touchdown run. Greco then caught an eight yard pass for a 28-0 Knights lead after one quarter and added his third touchdown early in the second on a 61 yard catch and run play from Mullin.

Before the half was out, Ricky Lamon caught a nine yard touchdown pass.

In the second half, which was run in straight time due to the Knights lead, Lamon completed the scorng by catching another touchdown from 11 yards out after gaining a single point on a missed 28 yard field goal attempt. Lamon also booted seven converts in the game.

Mullin had an outstanding game for the Knights and despite the conditions, completed 22 of 28 passes for 342 yards and five touchdowns.

DeVuono caught seven passes for 101 yards while Greco caught three for 81 yards, Lamon five for 60 yards, Craig Rushon three for 39 yards and Zak Dubreuil two for 29 yards. Mike Esson rushed for 52 yards on seven carries while Greco added 33 yards on 10 carries.

Jordan Verdone anchored the Knights defense with 12.5 tackles while Jason Amadio added 5.5 tackles and Dan Perri 4.5 plus a recovered fumble. Mitchell Currier and Anthony Marasco made 3.5 tackles each.

For Scollard Hall, running back Justin Digiglio ran for 51 yards on 16 carries. Quarterback Kevin Clayton completed 12 of 16 passes for 77 yards including three to Andre Filiatrault for 41 yards and four to Liam Sangster for 18 yards.

Defensively, Digiglio also led with 9.5 tackles. Graham Loyst made 7.5, Ben Carriere six, Adam Buckham four and Matt Thoma 3.5.

The only Knights blemish offensively was Buckham's fumble recovery and an interception by Wes Miller.