The London Junior Falcons, 5-2 on the year, headed into
Steeltown on July 27, 2010 to face arch nemesis Hamilton Ironmen in a game
with playoff seeding implications. And if you think defence wins
championships, then the Falcons made a statement with their defence about
where they want to go.
On the first Ironmen offensive series, the Falcons defence made an impressive forth down stop. By that time, the Falcons had taken a 6-0 lead on a Tres Menard rushing touchdown. The forth down stop allowed the Falcons offence the chance to march down the field, and they did, capping off the drive with a Marcus Dotterman touchdown pass to Andrew Sinclair, making it 13-0.
Then the defensive scoring parade started. First off, it was Falcons DB Malcolm Brown, who returned an interception 31 yards for a touchdown. Then after a 53 yard touchdown strike by Dotterman to Andrew Sinclair, Falcons linebacker, and team defensive MVP, Joel Clubine, decided to get into the action, first by taking an interception 28 yards for a touchdown, and then a few series later, by stripping the ball out of an Ironmen running back’s hands, and taking it 15 yards for the touchdown. Clubine would add four tackles, leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind that he was deserving of the defensive MVP honours.
Brown added a second interception later in the game, and then in the forth quarter, fellow DB Derek Coleman would add another interception. In all, the Falcons defense had 6 turnovers, returning 3 for touchdowns. Linebacker Ryan McLean lead the team with 8 tackles. Dwaine Stewart added five tackles, two fumble recoveries, and a bone jarring hit, and linebacker Lawson Seddon also helped lead the way with five tackles.
Offensively, Adam Sinclair finished with 12 carries and 92 yards, and with that, wins the league rushing title (for the Falcons, the second straight year). In total, the Falcons gained 182 yards on the day on the ground.
Receiver Andrew Sinclair finished the game with two catches for 89 yards and two touchdowns, giving him a league leading nine touchdown receptions. Dotterman finished the game four of eight for 153 yards and two touchdowns. He finishes with 14 touchdowns on the year, also a league leading total.
The Falcons now host the Mississauga Warriors during next weekend’s “Wild-Card Weekend”, finishing as the #3 seed in the Adams Conference. In week 3, the Falcons beat the Warriors 45-14.