Sabercats claw Sudbury

SUDBURY -- The Sault Sabercats are poised to make some noise in the Ontario Varsity Football League after pounding the Sudbury Northerners 72-13 here on Saturday.

Although the competition will much tougher from here, the Sabercats showed some game breaking talents in the exhibition contest against the expansion Northerners at Cambrian College.

On the opening possession, Frank Farkas erased any fear that the Sabercats running game would suffer from the graduation of Josh Gauthier. The running back took the opening handoff 35 yards and then took the second carry 17 yards for a touchdown.

Ron Kelly would quickly score his first of three consecutive touchdowns on an 89-yard punt return. Kelly followed with touchdown receptions of three and 73 yards.

Mark Palombi closed the first half with a two-yard touchdown to give the Sabercats a 35-0 lead.

Farkas, who rushed for 152 yards on 11 carries, scored two more majors in the second half on a 21-yard catch and a 27-yard run. Noah Rushon caught a 32-yard touchdown, Jeff Ianni scored on a four yard run and Matt Gauthier scored a punt return touchdown for the Sabercats.

"This is more than we expected," said Sabercats head coach Ross Viotto. "I never would have thought that we would score 72 points but the kids came out of the gate hard and things like our timing and special teams were evident.

"There are still some things that we need to clean up like some procedure calls and knowing where we should be on the field. I would like to work on some areas of our special teams, our timing on offense and positioning on the field."

Place kicker Dan Swystun was on target kicking a 22-yard field and hitting nine of 10 convert attempts.

Jeff Maki rushed six times for 67 yards and Ianni collected 52 yards on six carries. Mark Orlando, who played for the Sault Steelers last year, caught two passes for 27 yards.

At quarterback, Anthony Amadio completed four of seven passes for 68 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Ryan Maunu completed three of eight passes for 100 yards and one touchdown.

Defensively, Dan Kennedy recorded 8.5 tackles while Matt Gauthier and Jason Giosa made five each. Fumble recoveries were made by Kevin Nanne, Steve Tarachuk, Gavin Cond and Ryan Mallette. Cond and Jon Day added an interception each.

"Defensively, we need to work on our pass coverage. We are going to see a lot of passing next week and that's one area we need to get better at," said Viotto.

The Sabercats open the OVFL regular season next Saturday in Guelph. The first home contest for the Cats is June 14 against Essex beginning at 7p.m. at Rocky DiPietro Field.