Steelers defeat Longhorns

The Sault Steelers used some big plays to come away with a 27-23 victory over the Oakville Longhorns on Saturday night.

A late fourth quarter interception by Dan Swystun sealed the win as the Longhorns were threatening deep in Steelers territory. The Longhorns had missed two previous chances to take the lead in the final minutes of the game when Vaughan Swart and Michael Hyatt both had passes from quarterback Tom Denison slip through their fingers. Swart finished the game with 283 yards receiving on 11 catches with two touchdowns.

“They (Oakville) tried to go under and Danny was up for the task,” said Steelers coach Barry Rushon of Swystun’s interception.

“I thought we played a good game,” Rushon said. “They (Oakville) pass like crazy. We had six interceptions on the defensive side of the ball and that’s impressive. I thought our offense showed a lot of stability out there.”

Gord Campbell and Brandon Lewis were standouts defensively for the Steelers as the duo combined for five sacks in the win. Joe Thorburn also had a big day defensively with a pair of interceptions while Mat Gauthier had six tackles for the Steelers. Tysen Vanderloo also made a big defensive play early in the third quarter when he recovered a fumble in the Oakville endzone for a touchdown. The fumble came off a Steelers punt.

“I had moments when I thought our defensive secondary was great,” said Rushon. “There were moments when we didn’t seem to have coverage. That kind of thing tales practice over and over again. We had six defensive backs in there, we had a different set of coverages trying to stop them and that takes unity and unison and practice. We’re going to have to shore that up a little bit.”

Offensively, Matti Premo led the way with 101 yards receiving and a pair of touchdowns. Darrell Wood finished the day completing 17 of 31 for 212 yards.

“Oakville’s a strong team,” Rushon said. “You expect them to come here with a strong contingent of players. We expected a very tough game and they certainly gave us one.”

The Steelers next action will be at home on June 23 when they face the Tri-City Outlaws in a 7 p.m. start at Rocky Dipietro Field.