St. Clair Football Blanks Ottawa 74-0 in Home Opener
The St. Clair Saints Football team dominated the Ottawa Sooners in their home opener Saturday afternoon at Acumen Stadium while holding the visitors scoreless for the second straight week with a 74-0 romp which raised their OFC leading record to 3-0 to start the season.
The Saints started the barrage less than three minutes into the game with running back MJ Doyle-Marshall (Airdrie, AB) covering 29 yards for the opening major. St. Clair Defensive Back Brandon Vecchio (Sault Ste. Marie, ON) then picked off an errant Sooners pass and brough it back 60 yards for the pick-six. After a defensive stop Keyanni Elliott (Windsor, ON/Herman) was able to return the ensuing Ottawa punt back 75 yards for a Saints touchdown. Four minutes later St. Clair quarterback Matthew Guenette (Windsor, ON/Holy Names) connected with Jayden Shallow (Toronto, ON) for a 22-yard score followed by another strike to Marselio Mendez (West, St. Paul, MN) who hauled in an 11-yard pass worth six points making it 34-0 after the first quarter.
The St. Clair defense got on the board again with a 50-yard interception and return by Tylin Davis (Windsor, ON/Herman) just a minute into the second frame. Cameron St. Kitts-Park (Oshawa, ON) was on the receiving end of an 11-yard touchdown pass from Guenette four minutes later before Karzaih Mati (Hamilton, ON) caught a 22-yarder that resulted in another tally. Shortly before the half Mendez caught his second TD from Guenette making it 62-0 by the intermission.
St. Clair placekicker Joe Newton-Grain (Oxford, England) booted a 17-yard field goal midway through the third quarter and Ottawa conceded a safety later in the frame.
St. Clair Defensive Lineman Jaylin Burnett (South St. Paul, Minnesota) had two quarterback sacks as part of his four tackles in the game while defensive back Nick Baeini (Leamington, ON/Cardinal Carter) had a 21-yard interception return. The defense held Ottawa to just 56 yards of net offense and 8 first downs.
Doyle-Marshall was a force all day for the Saints rushing nine times for 92 yards. Mendez finished with five catches (38 yards) as part of his two-touchdown day while Elliott gained the most through the air with 45 yards on four snares while adding 75 yards in a pair of punt returns. Guenette ended the game with 162 pass yards completing 13-of-18 to go with his five touchdowns.
Newton-Grain converted 9-of-10 converts for the Saints.
St. Clair will travel to London on Friday to face the Beefeaters at City Wide Sports Field with kickoff set for 7:00pm.
| OFC Regular Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Ottawa Sooners | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| St. Clair Saints | 34 | 28 | 5 | 7 | 74 |