NCAFA Football
Trio of Panther teams advance to A-Cup championships
By Fred Sherwin
The Orleans Star

For the second year in a row the Cumberland Panthers Football Club will have three teams vying for an A-Cup championship after going 3-for-4 in the National Capital Amateur Football Association semi-finals on Sunday.

The day started off with the Panthers U10 tyke squad easily downing the South Ottawa Mustangs 36-6.

Cumberland Panthers quarterback Vincent Anderson prepares to take on a would-be South Ottawa Mustangs tackler in snowy conditions on Sunday. The Panther tuykes went on to win the game 36-6 to advance to the A-Cup championship. Fred Sherwin/Photo

In a complete reversal of their regular season match-up which the Mustangs won 72-70, the Panthers defence completely shutdown the Mustangs offence aided by an intermittent snowfall which severely limited South Ottawa's passing game.

The Panthers, meanwhile, had no problem moving the ball on the ground led by their quarterback Vincent Anderson who scored four of his team's five touchdowns. Jordan Gallagher scored the other TD.

The Panther tykes will play the Cornwall Wildcats 1 team in the A-Cup championships this Sunday at Minto Field in Nepean. The Panthers have yet to play the undefeated Wildcats this season.

The game of the day on Sunday was turned in by the Panthers U14 Peewee team which made short work of the Kanata Knights in a 47-14 win.

Led by tailback Khalid Campbell, the Panthers ran roughshod over the Knights who had no answer for the 13-year-old phenom. Each of Campbell's four TDs was of highlight reel quality with each one seemingly better than the last. During one particular effort, he cut back between two defenders, forcing them to run into each other, and broke through three more would-be tacklers before turning on the afterburners out run the safety into the endzone.

The Panthers other three touchdowns were scored by Cordel Epale, who ran for two of them and caught a pass from Jackson Plante for the other.

The peewee squad will play the Bell Warriors in the A-Cup final. The two teams played each other in Week 5 of the regular season with the Panthers emerging the better team with a 49-18 win.

In the Sunday's U16 bantam semi-final, the Panthers once again came out the winners, posting a solid 42-14 result over the Nepean Eagles.'

All but one of the Panthers TDs were scored on the ground. The lone exception was a touchdown toss from Zach Clouthier to Brendan Shaw.

Thomas Lortie ran for two touchdowns. Shaw ran for another. And Dante Spadaccini and Matthew Lavoie also ran for touchdowns.

The bantam team will also play the Bell Warriors in the A-Cup final.

The Panthers U12 mosquito team was hoping to join their clubmates in the A-Cup finals, but they ran into a determined Kanata Knights squad on Sunday that was able to outmuscle them in the second half on their way to 16-0 win.

After a scoreless first half, the Knights decided to use their superior size up front to push the ball up the middle. The result was a lengthy touchdown drive that ate nearly six minutes off the clock and included a pair of crucial third down conversions.

When the Panthers were unbale to respond on their first series of the second half the writing was on the wall.

The Knights were then able to put another long scoring drive together using the same tactics uo the middle, and just like that, they had a 16-0 lead after eating another six minutes off the clock.

The Panthers had no answers on offence and the game ended with the same 16-0 score.

The A-Cup championships will begin at 9 a.m. on Sunday with the Panthers vs Wildcats tyke final.

(Posted Oct. 30, 2018.)