Chatham-Kent Peewee Cougars 62, Mississauga Rattlers 0 - July 18, 2010


The Cougar defence once again was dominating, not allowing a first down in the game. In fact they did not allow the ball across mid field throughout the entire game. “Our boys come out to play every week, and that shut out record so far is huge to them”, said Head Coach Kevin Pugh. The defence kept to it’s swarming to the ball style, with several tacklers on the ball carrier each time they attempted to move the ball on them. Defensive captain Alex Formossa had a great game from his corner linebacker position. “He is disciplined and intelligent beyond his years” remarked defensive coach Chris Elgie. Defensive line coach Sal Melillo fired up his boys in pregame, citing the shutout record so far as motivation to keep playing hard no matter what the game brings. Lineman Zach Nicholson, Nicolis Melillo, Drew Smith, Austin Miller, Philip Clarke and Quentin Forgie all worked extremely hard in a rotation to keep them all fresh. Tanner Shuian and Sean Harris did the same at linebacker, with much success. Dylan Beaumont and Nolan Hakr shut down any attempt to pass by the Rattlers.

Offensively, the Cougar’s seemed to score at will as they only amassed 267 yards in total offence but scored 5 rushing and 2 passing touchdowns. The other two touchdowns were on punt returns. Owen Dorssers converted 7 of the touchdowns.

The Cougar offence scored early and often in the game starting when Kenny Levesques took a screen pass from quarterback Nolan Ball 33 yards for a touchdown. Offensive coach Doug Ball said that the execution of the play reminded him of some McGregor high school teams from the late 1970’s. “All three linemen were out front and running down field throwing blocks and Kenny followed them to perfection”, said Ball. On the next series Clayton Shreve took a reverse 13 yards for a touchdown. That was followed on the next Cougar possession with an 11 yard touchdown reception by Ross Kreiger from quarterback Ball. Shreve added another touchdown on a 60 yard punt return and so did Spencer Pugh on a 70 yard return. The Cougars capped their scoring in the first half with Liberty Rountree taking a draw sweep in from 18 yards following his centre Mathew Lee’s blocking down the side lines for a 40 – 0 lead.

The Cougars had 8 different ball carries in the game led by Levesques, Rountree, and Brady Pataki in the first half. In the second half, Trent Scaman and Chris Vecauteren ran for some tough yards as well. Late in the game, Sean Harris rushed in from 7 yards and Tanner Shuian added a 30 yard touchdown rush also. Ball was 5 of 6 in passing with 2 touchdowns on the day.

Offensive Coach Ryan Shreve indicated it is hard to stay focused in a game like this but said, “Our boys did a good job executing our plays as they are drawn up, even when things got out of hand..” Coach Peter Rountree was pleased his special teams scored two touchdowns on punt returns but he was equally impressed with the execution of the offence. “That draw sweep was excellent. When the centre pulls and is out front with the running back right on his tail, directing him who to block, you know you are firing on all cylinders.”

The Cougars final league game of the year is next Sunday when their 7 and 0 record is put on the line against the Oakville Titans at 1pm.