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NCAFA Bantam
Football
Panthers
hope postponed win signals new beginning
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online
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 The
Cumberland Panthers and the North Gloucester Giants played the last 4:49
of their bantam game under the lights at Millennium Park. Fred Sherwin/Photo
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With only
two games left in the regular season, the Cumberland Panthers bantam football
team is hoping a win over the North Gloucester Giants on Wednesday night
will signal a fresh start under new head coach Bob Wojick.
Wojick was handed
the reigns of the team on Monday after the Panthers got pounded 41-0 by
the Kanata Knights on the weekend.
With only two
games left in the regular season, the Panthers are still in the hunt for
first place in the highly competitive East Conference with a record of 3-2-1.
Job number one
was winning their postponed game against the North Gloucester Giants on
Wednesday night. The original game was suspended on Sept. 18 when the lights
at Gil-O-Julien Park in Vanier suddenlly went out with 4:49 left to go in
the fourth quarter.
The Panthers
were up 27-20 on touchdowns by brothers Uyo Akpan and Ekom Akpan, Olivier
Miguel and Nick Paunache and the Giants had a third and 10 at their own
22-yard line.
When play resumed
on Wednesday, the Giants punted the ball, leaving the Panthers in excellent
field position. When Cumberland couldn't do anything with it they tried
to punt the ball into the end zone for a single point, but the Giants managed
to run it out.
With less than
two minutes to go in the game and the Giants needing a touchdown to tie,
Stevn Gervais picked off an errant pass and ran it down to North Gloucester's
13-yard line to set up yet another punt, only this time the Panthers managed
to tackle the return man in the end zone for the single which put the game
out of reach.
The win was huge
for the Panthers (3-2-1) in that it keeps them in the hunt for first place
with the Mew Orleans Bengals, who are currently in the lead with a record
of four wins and two losses; the Giants, who are now 3-3; and the Canterbury
Mustangs who are 2-3-1.
With his first
win as a head coach under his belt, Wojick used his post game speech top
stress the positive and focus on the future.
"This is
a new start. We have to build on this," said Wojick. "We have
to continue to play good sound football and keep improving the rest of the
way."
The Panthers
final two games are against the Canterbury Mustangs and the Gloucester South
Raiders.
(Posted 11:30
p.m., Oct. 2)
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