Braves edge Saints in senior tiebreaker

In a game full of twists, turns and momentum shifts, the Bawating Braves were able to outlast the St. Basil Saints and advance into the playoffs.

In the High School Football League senior division tiebreaker for fourth place on Tuesday night at a muddy Rocky DiPietro Field, the Braves walked away with a 20-12 win and will now face the unbeaten St. Mary's Knights (5-0) in one semi-final on Friday night at 7 p.m.

The other semi-final will see the White Pines Wolverines tackle the Sir James Dunn Eagles on Thursday at 7 p.m.

The eventual semi-final winners will advance to the city championship game on Friday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. at Rocky DiPietro Field.

In the tiebreaker, Bawating opened the scoring early in the second quarter as Ryan Lecuyer hauled in a 20 pass from quarterback Mike Storozuk for a 7-0 lead.

The Saints answered back before the half as Justin Minelli punched in his first of two touchdowns from 25 yards out. But a blocked convert left St. Basil trailing 7-6.

In the second half, Dan Vaz scored late in the third quarter on a two yard run and with the missed convert, Bawating led 13-6.

The Saints weren't done yet as Izaak Wickstrom recovered a Storozuk fumble to set up a Minelli two yard touchdown run with 8:04 left in the fourth quarter. Another missed convert cost the Saints a tie and were instead trailing 13-12.

The Braves defense then turned in the key play of the game as Joe Storozuk picked off Mike Tassone's pass and returned the ball 35 yards into St. Basil territory with 3:35 remaining.

The interception set up Vaz's second major score of the game from four yards out with 1:22 left. Brad Beatty's second convert of the night gave the Braves a 20-12 lead.

St. Basil took over again on offense but turned the ball over on downs with 50.9 seconds remaining.

Vaz led all rushers with 108 yards on 25 carries while Mike Storozuk ran for 98 yards on 14 attempts and completed five of nine passes for 32 yards. Lecuyer caught three passes for 27 yards.

Defensively for the Braves, Doug Watt led with nine tackles, Davd Pipoli added eight and Zach Clement 6.5.

For the Saints, Minelli rushed for 64 yards on 15 carries and Tassone completed five of 14 passes for 45 yards including two to Kevin Smith for 30 yards.

Defensively, Dan Buonomo had a solid game recording 12 tackles and a sack. Kelvin Nisbet made six tackles while Wickstrom, Smith and David Pozzebon made five each. Brad Boyer also recovered a fumble.

*** JUNIOR:

In junior division quarterfinal action on Tuesday afternoon, St. Mary's defeated White Pines 34-0 and Bawating stopped the Korah Colts 20-6.

Scoring details were not available.

In semi-final action on Saturday at Queen Elizabeth B Field, Bawating meets Sir James Dunn at 12 p.m. followed by St. Mary's and St. Basil at 2:30 p.m.

Semi-final winners will meet in the city final on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 1 p.m. at Rocky DiPietro Field.