The Sault Steelers kicked off a new season with a 21-10 victory in Belleville on Saturday night.
Heading into the 2003 Northern Football Conference season, optimism of a successful season on the field has been running through the Steelers camp. Playing an unbalanced schedule, every game is winnable for the Steelers and possibility of obtaining a home playoff spot is well within reach.
The Steelers took a step in that direction on Saturday by beating a Belleville team that already had an exhibition and a regular season game under their belts.
"We're happy with the win considering it's our first game and their third. We had some of those first game difficulties like having too many people on the field or not enough in the first half. But I though we came back well and put things together better in the second half," said Steelers head coach Barry Rushon.
Full back Keegan Franklin opened the Steelers scoring on a two yard run, with the Steelers running a jumbo package out of the backfield. The score was set up by Kyle Lansdell's 47-yard catch and run from quarterback Seth Cond.
Lansdell scored the second touchdown on and 49-yard pass and run while Josh Gauthier scored on a 12 yard run. Anthony Posteraro kicked all three converts.
"We had set some goals for our offense and defense and one of the defensive goals was to hold them to 10 points or less. We always like to shut a team out but, realistically, mistakes are made that lead to points and that's what happened," said Rushon.
"They only passed for 80 yards but 48 of them were on their touchdown pass. (Belleville) was only four for 19 passing so we did the job except for that one time. Their other score was a five-yard field goal and we set them up by fumbling the ball on our own five. But the defense held them there. All 10 points were scored by errors but you expect that in the first game."
The Steelers now have a chance to improve to 2-0 before returning home as they travel to Sudbury to play the Spartans on Saturday night.
The Steelers play their home opener June 21 against Tri-City at 7 p.m. on Rocky DiPietro Field.
*** EXTRA POINTS:
* Running back Toby Traveson sustained a charlie horse on his opening carry. Traveson, known for toughness, carried the ball another three times before coming out. His status is day-to-day.
* The Steelers played the game minus veterans Matti Tucker, Charlie Dixon and Gordie Campbell due to prior commitments.