Sabercats survive letdown to remain unbeaten

Despite a cat nap in the second half, the Sault Sabercats held off the Lambton Lions on Saturday afternoon to remain undefeated.

In their home opener in front of a decent crowd in humid conditions at Rocky DiPietro Field, the Sabercats nearly blew a 20 point half time lead but managed to hang on for a 36-29 win to improve to 3-0 and maintain sole possession of first place in the Ontario Varsity Football League's west division.

After Lambton pulled to within six points with a pair of third quarter touchdowns, Tommy Reville turned the tide for the Sabercats with a 54 yard punt return for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

Reville's major would prove to be the insurance the team would need as the depleted Lions, who were missing eight starters due to a high school prom, continued to claw for the upset win until the final whistle.

After Lambton opened the scoring with single off the opening kickoff, Sabercats linebacker Mike Jurich erased a Kofi Osei fumble on their first possession by returning an interception 26 yards to setup a Jon Day 11 yard touchdown reception from quarterback John Mullin.

Lambton took an 8-6 lead with a four yard touchdown run by Chris Levan early in the second quarter before the Saberctas turned up their offense.

Noah Rushon hauled in a 49 yard touchdown recption from Mullin before catching the two point convert to give the Sabercats the lead for good.

Day then scored his second major by recovering a fumbled punt return in the end zone for a touchdown, Dan Swystun booted an 80 kickoff single and Marc Palumbo caught an eight yard pass to give the locals a 28-8 lead at the half.

Graham Curran, Mike Hegarty and Pat Wright scored second half touchdowns for Lambton.

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