Wolverines down Braves in regular season finale

The Bawating Braves controlled their own destiny heading into Saturday's High School Football League regular season finale at Rocky DiPietro Field.

A win for the Braves would clinch second place in the senior division but a loss would drop the Braves into a tie for the fourth and final playoff spot.

The White Pines Wolverines, needing a win to take second spot and run their record to 4-1, made the big plays when they had to and downed the Braves 25-7.

The loss now forces Bawating into a tiebreaker game against the St. Basil Saints on Tuesday night at Rocky DiPietro Field at 7 p.m. The eventual winner will advance to face the unbeaten St. Mary's Knights (5-0) in one semi-final on Tuesday night.

The Sir James Dunn Eagles, whose playoffs chances appeared to be the slimmest heading into the final week of the regular season, grabs third place and will face the Wolverines in the other semi-final on Thursday at 7 p.m.

In the game between the Braves and Wolverines, Bawating started well and led 7-0 in the first quarter after Dan Vaz ran for a 38 yard touchdown and Brad Beatty added the convert.

White Pines regrouped and took over in the second quarter as Gary Leith caught a 19 yard touchdown pass from Cory Wensley and Jon Widgett capped a drive with a two yard run.

In the second half, Wensley scored on a one yard keep and Matt Santos, who also kicked three converts, booted a 35 yard field goal.

Vaz ran for 150 yards on 26 carries which secured the league's rushing title by four yards over Widgett, who finished with 102 yards on 17 carries.

Wensley completed seven of 14 passes for 94 yards while Bawating quarterback Mike Storozuk completed eight of 13 passes for 68 yards including four to Ryan Lecuyer for 68 yards.

Defensively for the Wolverines, Jake Doan came up with a pair of interceptions, one returned 49 yards. Anthony Silvano led with 8.5 tackles, Matt Connors added six, Matt Ritchie and Kellan Paat 4.5 each and Leith four.

David Pipoli led the Braves defense with nine tackles and an interception while Lecuyer added 6.5 tackles, Tyler Beauchamp six plus a sack, Doug Watt five tackles and Mike Jackson four. Joe Storozuk also recorded an interception.

*** JUNIOR:

In junior division action on Saturday morning, the Braves downed the Wolverines 20-6. Jesse Hill, Jordan Fresque and Matt Leask scored for the Braves while Tyler Roussain replied with the major for White Pines.

Quarterfinal playoff action begins on Thursday as White Pines visits St. Mary's and Bawating travels to Korah. Both games kick off at 4:15 p.m.