Steelers represented among NFC league leaders

Although they won’t be playing when the Northern Football Conference championship takes place this weekend, the Sault Steelers are well represented among the NFC’s stats leaders.

Josh Gauthier, who missed last week’s game against Oshawa due to suspension, finished the NFC regular season with 78 total points, tops in the league. The veteran back scored 12 rushing touchdowns and also returned a kick for a touchdown. Noah Rushon finished the season with 36 points.

Steelers quarterback Travis McLean finished the regular season fourth in passing yards with 1,019 yards on a 48 per cent passing percentage. McLean went 78-for-162 and had a QB rating of 76.1. Oakville Longhorns quarterback Mark Demerling topped the league with 1,515 passing yards.

Receiver Noah Rushon finished third in receiving yards this season with 425 yards on 27 catches and seven touchdowns. Rushon averaged 15.7 yards-per-catch. Quinte’s Chad Murray topped all receivers with 451 yards on 21 catches.

Gauthier finished tops among all backs as he rushed for 586 yards on 85 carries, for an average of 6.9 yards-per-carry.

Defensively Brandon Lewis and Joe Oldham finished in a three-way tie for tops among sack leaders. The two had four sacks apiece with Lewis totaling four sacks for a loss of 43 yards while Oldham’s four sacks led to a loss of 27 total yards. Stafford Wilson of Oakville also had four sacks this season.

Sarnia’s Chris Churchill topped all defensive players with 43.5 tackles while the top Sault Steelers player was Mark Porco with 24.5. Russ Moyle had 24 while Lewis added 22.5.

Kim LaBrosse of Sudbury had six interceptions to lead the NFC. Robert Southwind of the Steelers had three.

Brandon Dougan of Sudbury was the NFC leader in kick return yards with 342 on 18 attempts. Dougan averaged 19 yards-per-return. Gauthier led the Steelers and finished fifth in the league with 269 yards on just seven attempts for an average of 38.4 yards.

Kyle Gauthier finished third in the NFC with 1,374 yards kicking on 28 kicks.

Josh Gauthier finished fourth in the NFC with 177 punt return yards on 13 punt returns.

Sarnia’s Jake Cherski and Quinte’s Yanel Vaquerana led the NFC with four fumble recoveries each while Steeler had three including one returned for a touchdown.

Quinte’s Derek McDonald led the NFC in hurries with 10 while Kim LaBrosse of Sudbury led the league with seven batted balls. Kurt Morrison of the Steelers finished the season with four batted balls.

Wayne Sliwinski of Milton finished the season with 11.5 tackles for a loss. The Steelers Tyson Vanderloo finished third with eight.

Steelers kicker Nick Pederson led the NFC with 1,227 gross yards punting on 35 punts. Pederson had 904 net yards for a net average of 25.8.