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Junior
Varsity Football
JV
Panthers keep playoff hopes alive
By Mike Beasley
Orléans Online
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 Cumberland
Panthers receiver and kick returner Kevin
Victome fends off a would-be tackler during
their 40-7 win over the Mississauga Warriors
on June 17. Fred Sherwin/Photo
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Jeff
Koradi is finally starting to sleep well at night. Winning
football games has had that effect on the head coach of
the Cumberland Panthers junior varsity squad.
Victors
in two of their last three Ontario Provincial Football
League games, Koradi
is happy with the progress his team has shown over the
past three games.
A
convincing 40-7 home field win on Saturday over the visiting
Mississauga Warriors put Koradi in a celebratory mood
during a post-game interview.
“I’m
really happy with the way the kids played at both ends
of the field, we made a lot of great plays with the ball
and with-out it,” Koradi said, while exchanging high
fives and handshakes with his players and several Panther
parents.
“We
finally played in stride and came out of the game with
a much needed win. The only thing that I’m disappointed
with is that we left some points on the field because
of bad penalties or failed execution.”
With
their recent success, the Panthers (2-3) are back in the
playoff hunt with three games left to play in the regular
season.
This
coming Saturday the Panthers will travel to Kingston to
take on the winless Grenadiers (0-5). Koradi his team
won’t be looking ahead to their highly anticipated
match up against the Ottawa Sooners (3-2) Canada Day weekend
at Carleton University.
The
Panthers will then close out the regular season at Millennium
Park on Wednesday, Jan. 23 against the Guelph Jr. Gryphons
(0-5).
If
their win against Mississauga on Saturday is any indication,
the Panthers should easily make the playoffs with points
to spare.
The
Panthers led the game from start to finish and was clearly
the dominant team. The Warriors scored their only touchdown
of the game late in the second quarter after Cumberland
had already jumped out to a 10-0.
The
Panthers then responded with a touchdown with 15.6 seconds
left in the first half to take a 17-7 lead into the break.
They would score 23 more points in the final two quarters
to run away with the game by a 40-7 margin.
Panthers’
quarterback Ryan Licandro had his best game of the season,
complet-ing 25 of 42 passes for a total of 367 yards and
four touchdowns.
His
favourite target, once again was wide receiver Kevin Victome
who hauled in six passes for 102 yards and a pair of touchdown
receptions.
Wide
receiver Jonathan Aoude had a productive afternoon as
well with seven catches and a major, and Xavier Gervais
had a strong outing with a pair of TDs and a field goal.
Conor
MacDonald was a force on both sides of the ball scoring
on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Licandro and chipping
in a key interception.
(This
story was made possible thanks to the generous support of
our local business partners.)
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