Steelhawks heading to city final

It wasn’t the ideal start but the Superior Heights Steelhawks earned a berth in the senior high school football city championship on Thursday.

The Steelhawks beat the White Pines Wolverines 36-12 at Superior Heights in semifinal action

Preparation was a key to the Steelhawks slow start.

“I don’t think we were as prepared as we needed to be,” said Superior Heights Coach Seth Cond. “Our offence stuttered midway through the first quarter and into the second quarter. We had an opportunity to regroup at halftime and put forth the effort that we needed in the second half.”

Cond agreed with the premise that he’s expecting more out of the Steelhawks in the city final.

“When the second season starts, there should be some intrinsic motivation and I think that’s where we need to improve moving forward,” Cond said.

Cooper Lafromboise, Elijah Yandeau and Nick Roussain had touchdown runs for the Steelhawks. Lafromboise ran the ball in from two yards out while Yandeau’s major came on a 10-yard run and Roussain scored from three yards out.

Lafromboise ran the ball nine times for 74 yards in the game while Yandeau had eight carries for 62 yards. Roussain finished the day with 54 yards rushing on seven carries.

Connor Breachin caught a pair of touchdown passes in the second half as the Steelhawks broke the game open.

Defensively for the Steelhawks, Nick Wildman had 3.5 tackles while Joe Rosso had four. Wildman, Justin Cond and Andrew Batman had interceptions for Superior Heights.

Tristian Marshall ran the ball 15 times for 128 yards for White Pines, including a 90-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Kendrick Saari had the Wolverines other touchdown on a long pass and run, also in the fourth quarter.

Defensively for White Pines, Forrest Jones had 11 tackles while Nicholas Lindsay had four.

“We battled all game,” said White Pines Coach Marco Bernabucci. “They played their hearts all game and all season.”

Bernabucci said that, despite trailing, the first half was a major positive for the Wolverines.

“We couldn’t be happier with the outcome of the first half,” Bernabucci said.

Superior Heights will face the winner of the other semifinal on Oct. 28 at Rocky DiPietro Field in the city championship.

The second semifinal game is set for Friday at Superior Heights between Korah and St. Mary’s, who both finished the regular season with 3-3 records. Kickoff is set for 4:15 p.m.

Following the end of the regular season, Grigg earned the Alex Denman Memorial Trophy as the league’s most outstanding player.

Other league award winners included Jarrett Litalien of Korah (Rocky DiPietro Award as most outstanding receiver), Noah Smith of Superior Heights (Gord Hargreaves Trophy as most outstanding lineman) and Jared Strachan of St. Mary’s (Steelers Trophy as the top defensive player). Tristan Marshall of White Pines and Isaac Belsito of Superior Heights shared the Sault Sabercats Trophy that goes to the offensive player of the year.

In junior football, Korah’s Jacob Jurich earned the Nick Ferris Memorial Award as league MVP. The Steelers Trophy for the defensive player of the year went to Julian Gioia (St. Mary’s). The most outstanding lineman (Curtis Grandmont Trophy) went to Brennan Fisher of Superior Heights while Jordan Robinson-Wright (Korah) was named the top offensive player (Rushon Family Trophy).