Sabercats look to 'steal one in London'

The Sabercats will come with a new look they hope will give them an upset win over London.

After dropping their Ontario Varsity Football League opener in Guelph 41-14 on Saturday, the Sabercats have made some adjustments on both sides of the ball to improve offensive production and improve pass defense.

Along with the changes, the Sabercats will need to step up their intensity in order to knock off the London Falcons, one of the top ranked OVFL teams, on Sunday afternoon at TD Waterhouse Stadium on the University of Western Ontario campus in London.

The Falcons defeated Sarnia's Lambton Lions 14-7 on a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns in their opener last Sunday. The Falcons are owned and coached by Sault native Mike Esposito, who is assistant head coach.

On offense, the Sabercats have decided to go with Ryan Maunu at quarterback with Anthony Amadio at backup. The Cats have also worked on some different formations and would like to get the ball into the hands of receiver Ron Kelly more often.

"Number one we have to run the ball this week," said Sabercats head coach Ross Viotto. "We need to establish the run to set up our pass and we are also going to be moving Ron Kelly around in our formations to get him the ball in different spots on the field."

Defensively, the Cats have changed their defensive set and will go with a four lineman, three linebacker set instead of a 4-4 set, freeing an extra man for the secondary to improve the pass coverage that was exploited in Guelph.

Viotto feels that his team will play a much better game this week and that they match-up better against a run oriented London team.

"I think we match-up well against these guys because our strength on defense is our run stop and London likes to pound the ball and play action pass off that. With the change on defense to a 4-3, you are going to see a different look this week that I think will help us," said Viotto.

"We are definitely a better team than what we showed in Guelph. The kids understand the challenge we have this weekend and they will be ready for it. Hopefully we can go in there and steal one in London."