The U12 Orleans Bengals were hoping to end their season playing for a city championship. Unfortunately, their quest ended prematurely when they suffered a lopsided loss to the Cumberland Panthers in the first round of the National Capital Amateur Football Association (NCAFA) playoffs.

But that loss had a silver lining. All the teams that lose in the quarterfinals get a shot at redemption by playing for NCAFA's B-Cup.

After bouncing back to beat the West Carleton Wolverines 30-19 in the B-Cup semi-finals last weekend, the Bengals had a chance to do something every team dreams of doing on Saturday – finish their season on a winning note.

To do that they would have to beat the Nepean Eagles which had a 5-3 regular season and were equally determined to win their final game. As things turned out the Bengals were more determing than the Eagles. A lot more determined.

Playing on the Eagles home field at the Nepean Sportsplex, the Bengals completely dominated their opponents from the opening whistle, compiling 72 yards on nine plays and scoring the games opening touchdown on a 13-yard run by their quarterback Callum Marshall. On the other side of the ball, the Eagles only had six plays, four of which were in the final minute of the quarter.

The Eagles added three more plays in the opening of the second quarter and managed to move the ball down to the Bengals' 20 yard line before Ryker Sabean ended the potential scoring drive with an interception.

Before first half ended, the Bengals managed to put together another long scoring drive, moving the ball 53 yards on five plays, culminating with four yard touchdown run by Caleb Denton to put his team up 12-0 at the half.

Another Bengals interception, this time by Pierson Flynn, would give Orléans a first down on Nepean's 24 yard line with a minute and 10 seconds still left in the half.

After a 13 yard run for a first down, Marshall completed back-to-back passes to Denton. The first one took them down to the Eagles seven yard line. The second one resulted in a touchdown with just 12 seconds left on the clock and an 18-0 Bengals lead.

The third quarter was relatively uneventful until Jaxon Kritsch hauled in the Bengals' third interception of the game in the final minute and returned it 19 yards for a touchdown to give Orleans a 25-0 lead after a one point conversion.

Nepean would eventually get on the scoreboard late in the fourth quarter, but by then it was too little too late as the result had already been determined.

Marshall ended the game with 74 yards on eight carried including a touchdown. He also completed four passes for 35 yards and another touchdown. For his part, Denton ran the ball 12 times for 74 yards and a touchdown, and he caught three passes for another 26 yards and a second touchdown.

As good as the Bengals' offence was, their defence was also equal to the task with three interceptions and two fumble recoveries.