OFC playoffs on horizon for Sabercats

The Ontario Football Conference playoffs are set to begin on Saturday and the Sault Sabercats are ready for action at both the varsity and junior varsity levels.

The two local entries begin the playoffs on Saturday at home as the varsity team will host the Brantford Bisons in a 7 p.m. kickoff at Superior Heights while the junior varsity team will host the Sarnia Sturgeon in a 4 p.m. start. Both games are slated for Superior Heights.

It’s the second meeting of the season between the two teams. The Sabercats beat the Bisons 35-18 on the road to improve to 2-2 at the time. The win came after the Sabercats dropped narrow decisions on late field goals in their previous two games, an 8-7 loss to Waterloo and a 27-26 loss to Sudbury.

The Sabercats were off last week after the North Halton Crimson Tide elected to forfeit their game in the Sault, giving the Sabercats a 6-2 regular season record and second place. Brantford enters the playoffs after a road win over the Forest City Thunderbirds last weekend.

The winner between the Sabercats and Bisons will meet the winner of Saturday’s other OFC West Division semifinal between Waterloo and the Oakville Titans next weekend in the division final.

In Saturday’s JV game, the Sabercats face the lone team to beat them during the OFC regular season. 

Sarnia handed the Sabercats a 26-23 loss in Sarnia in week two.

Since then, the locals reeled off seven consecutive victories, including a 48-7 win over North Halton at home last weekend.

The JV Sabercats finished in a three-way tie with Sarnia and the Chatham Cougars at 7-1. Chatham was awarded top spot based on the OFC tie-breaker with the Sabercats taking second and Sarnia finishing third. 

Chatham is slated to face Brantford in the OFC’s other JV West semifinal.