Winning a senior high school football title in Sault Ste. Marie isn’t easy and it’s even tougher to repeat.
The Korah Colts did just that on Friday night thanks to a 29-10 win over the St. Mary’s Knights at Superior Heights, ending a perfect season locally and a repeat of their senior football title from a year ago.
“It was just a gritty performance from a lot of guys today,” said Korah Coach Tom Annett. “That’s an excellent team (St. Mary’s) and they’re really well-coached. They really challenged us at the start and we got a couple of breaks at the end to break it open.”
Tyler Brechin had three touchdowns for the Colts in the win. Brechin had a five-yard touchdown run along with touchdown catches of seven and 46 yards.
“He’s the most valuable player for a reason,” Annett said. “They were paying special attention to him. He’s a big-time player and big-time players make big-time plays in big games.”
In the opening quarter, Brechin would proceed to run the ball in on the second play from scrimmage to give Korah the lead. Mateo Perri’s convert would make it 7-0.
Parker St. Onge would get the Knights on the board with a 16-yard run with just over two minutes to go in the opening quarter. A convert by Cole Tasz would tie the game at seven.
Brechin, on a 12-yard catch, would put the Colts ahead with just under eight minutes to go in the second quarter. Perri’s convert would make it 14-7.
Perri would attempt a 29-yard field goal with 25.6 seconds to go in the second quarter. The field goal was wide, but the Colts would get a single point after the Knights could not get out of the endzone, sending the game into the half with the Colts leading 15-7.
In the third quarter, Brechin would increase the Colts lead on a 46-yard touchdown catch on a pass from Jordan Robinson-Wright. A convert from Perri made the score 22-7 Korah.
Tasz would kick a 16-yard field goal in the final minute of the third quarter for St. Mary’s to make the score 22-10.
Nik Gervasi capped off the scoring with a 59-yard touchdown run. The convert by Perri would make the final 29-10.
Gervasi finished the day with 172 yards rushing on 20 carries while Brechin had 39 yards rushing and 65 yards receiving for Korah.
St. Onge had 131 yards rushing for St. Mary’s on 17 carries.
Defensively for Korah, Aaron Keranen had seven tackles, one assist and a sack while Jacob Jurich had six tackles.
Evan Sicoli had six tackles and two assists for St. Mary’s defensively.
Korah advances to the Northern Ontario Secondary School Athletics (NOSSA) semi-final game, which will be held locally on Nov. 3.
The junior final is set for Saturday afternoon, also at Superior Heights, and will see Korah face Superior Heights.
The junior winner will play in NOSSA next Saturday locally.