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Facing one of the top teams in the Ontario Summer Football League, the Sault Sabercats junior varsity team saw their opponents make the most of their opportunities.
Mistakes were crucial in a 57-22 loss to the Cumberland Panthers Saturday afternoon at Superior Heights.
“The difference in the game is the mistakes,” said JV Sabercats coach Jim Monico. “We made a lot more mistakes than they did, and when we made mistakes, we paid for them. They made us pay for it.”
Monico went on to call mistakes “the difference between being a top tier team like they are and a good team like we are.”
“When you make those mistakes, you’re going to pay the price, and we learned that tonight,” Monico added.
Monico called the Panthers one of the best teams in the province and felt that his team was more physical against Cumberland than they were a week ago against Kingston.
“One thing we stressed during practice this week on Tuesday was that we had to be physical and compete more,” Monico said. “When we went to Kingston last week, I didn’t think we were physical enough, and we got beat up. We called them out to be a little more physical, a little tougher and battle a little bit harder. We did that. We played them tough.”
Cumberland opened the scoring 31 seconds in on their first play from scrimmage as Hugo Djeumeni ran the ball in from 57 yards out. With a two-point convert from David Auger, the Panthers led by eight early.
Heaven Moke added to the Cumberland lead with a 22-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0.
The Sabercats got on the board late in the opening quarter as Jack McPherson caught a seven-yard touchdown pass from Matti Tucker. With the convert by Nate Carter, the game moved to the second quarter with Cumberland leading 14-7.
In the opening minute of the second, Moke ran the ball in from 41 yards out to extend the Cumberland lead. A convert by Cole Telfer made it 21-7.
Keegan Brunet caught a three-yard pass from quarterback Jackson Plante to make it 28-7 Cumberland after a convert by Telfer.
Djeumeni got his second major of the day when he ran the ball in from 12 yards out. A convert by Telfer made it 35-7.
Late in the quarter Nathan Guizzetti caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from Kaylob Thibodeau on a trick play to make it 35-14 after the convert by Carter.
Cumberland sent the game into the half with a 41-14 lead after a two-yard touchdown run by Etison Pholo in the final minute of the quarter.
Late in the third quarter, Eli Bennett caught a three-yard touchdown pass from Plante. With the convert from Telfer, the Panthers took a 48-14 lead.
Early in the fourth quarter, Thibodeau caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Tucker, and Carter caught a pass for the two-point convert to make the s core 48-22 Cumberland.
With just under six minutes to go, the Sabercats surrendered a safety to make the score 50-22 Cumberland.
With three minutes to go in the game, Xander Bertrand picked off a pass and ran the ball back 78 yards for a touchdown for Cumberland. With the convert by Telfer, the Panthers took a 57-22 lead in the process.
Offensively for the Sabercats, Jarret Dewar ran the ball eight times for 82 yards, while Thibodeau had 53 yards rushing on 11 carries.
Carter caught four passes for 61 yards.
Defensively, Ethan Carchidi had five tackles, while Jack Metcalfe and Christopher Cormier had four each.
Danik Berthiaume had four tackles for Cumberland.
Brunet finished the day with four catches for 69 yards, while Moke caught a pair of passes for 50 yards and Djeumeni had 44 yards receiving on two catches and 215 yards rushing on 11 carries.
The Sabercats now await results from around the league that will determine where and who they will play in the opening round of the OSFL playoffs.