Steelers eliminated from NFC playoffs (Updated with photos)

The Northern Football Conference will be holding its championship game next Saturday evening

Unfortunately for the Sault Steelers, they will be on the outside looking in after a 42-17 loss at the hands of the Oshawa Hawkeyes on Saturday night at Rocky DiPietro field.

The Hawkeyes were the only team to defeat the Steelers this season and both wins came at Rocky DiPietro field. The Hawkeyes defeated the Steelers 29-28 on June 17. The Steelers finished the regular season with a 7-1 record.

“I think our defense, although they didn’t play their best game, they gave us an opportunity in the third quarter,” said Steelers coach Barry Rushon. “Once in the third quarter and twice in the fourth quarter we were (in the red zone offensively). If we come out of there with some solid points it would have been a heck of a finish.”

“I’m a little disappointed in the final scored,” Rushon added. “I think we deserved a little better fate but having said that Oshawa’s a heck of a football team.”

The Steelers fell behind early when Evan Davis ran the ball in from four yards out to give the Hawkeyes the early lead. A touchdown run by John Maione and a field goal by Nick Pedersen put the Steelers up 10-7 early in the second quarter but the wheels fell off late in the half.

Dave Beaulieu put Oshawa ahead 14-10 when he broke five would be tacklers to scamper in from 27 yards out with 1:55 left in the half. Rob Horstman then gave the Hawkeyes a 28-10 lead with 1:03 left. Finally with just six second left in the half Chris Draffin caught a 19-yard pass to give the Hawkeyes a 35-10 lead heading into halftime.

“We were a little disappointed in ourselves,” said Rushon of the way the first half ended. “We made some changes offensively that we wanted to. Having said that, we asked our defense to shut them down and for the most part they did.”

The Steelers opened the second half with a 62-yard catch by Ron Kelly for a touchdown but that was all the Steelers offense could form as Oshawa sealed the win with a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns. The first, a diving grab by Beaulieu in the end zone came with just over five minutes remaining while Dave Dinnall capped off the scoring with 58 seconds remaining.

“We wanted to put ourselves in a situation where we could come back in this game,” Rushon said of the quick start to the second half. “I didn’t think 28 points was going to hold up so we jumped up really early. Had our offense been able to put some points on the board twice in the red zone it would have been a different score.”

The Steelers turned the ball over six times in the loss including five interceptions in the game.

Defensively Kurtis Morrison finished the day with 7.5 tackles while Matt Gauthier added seven. Ron Kelly added an interception defensively.

On the offensive side of the ball, Kelly finished the day with 93 yards receiving while Matt Premo added 86. The Steelers had just 38 yards rushing as a team. Beaulieu had 180 yards receiving for Oshawa while Evan Davis had 88 yards rushing.

“I think we did a good job and we put ourselves in a position where we wanted to get homefield,” said Rushon. “We were hoping to get homefield for the championship game. The hill got higher when the two Gauthier boys (were out of the lineup). One was suspended (Josh) and one got hurt this week (Kyle). That gave us a setback. Jason Biagini, one of our offensive linemen, went down. Gord Campbell didn’t make it over. Having said that, the guys stepped up and played a solid game.”

Kyle Gauthier injured his hand earlier in the week after a suffering a cut that required stitches.

The Hawkeyes now host Milton next week in the NFC championship after Milton defeated the Oakville Longhorns earlier in the day Saturday by a 33-2 score.