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The St. Clair Saints made a powerful statement.
Missing the Ontario Football Conference’s offensive player of the year, defensive player of the year and special teams player of the year, the Saints still piled up over 500 yards in offence and rolled to a 75-39 win over the London Beefeaters in Saturday’s final at Acumen Stadium.
“It was insane,” Saints’ quarterback Matthew Guenette said. “I knew we would play really well, we have a great team, but we played unbelievably on offence.”
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It was a record for points scored by a team in the final and total points score between the two teams, who combined for over 1,000 yards in offence, in a league final as St. Clair secured its third consecutive title.
“It’s not what I expected,” Saints’ head coach Mike LaChance said. “I expected 24-14. Normally, most finals are low scoring.
“I expected us to play well on offence. I didn’t expect that onslaught. We weren’t trying to track meet them. I just felt we had to score on every possession because, at one point in the game, it felt like they were going to score on every possession.”
Guenette stepped in for quarterback Maurice Sodja, who was the OFC offensive player and missed the game with a knee injury. The 21-year-old Guenette responded by throwing for 377 yards and six touchdowns while also running in another score.
“I didn’t know until Friday,” Guenette said about being informed he would start. “It was more an assumption. I took all the starting reps all week. Obviously, there were some nerves before a championship game, but I trusted my line, my receivers and the play calling.”
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Defensive lineman Jaylin Burnett, who as the OFC defensive player of the year, as well as Gaddy Kazadi, who was the special teams player of the year, were also sidelined along with lead running back M.J. Doyle-Marshall, who rushed for 732 yards and 11 touchdowns in the regular season.
“The OFC is as strong as ever,” LaChance said. “Ottawa’s a heck of a team, London is strong and we’re as strong as we’ve ever been and to say this conference is down is silly. It’s just this is the best team, talent wise, that we’ve put together in 21 years.”
Jesse Burella stepped in at running back and had 112 yards combined rushing and receiving yards and scored two rushing touchdowns and caught two touchdowns passes. Peyton Harris also had a touchdown run.
“This team is insane,” Guenette said. “Our second string is just as good. The depth on our team is just ridiculous.”
Cameron St. Kitts-Park, who had nine catches for 104 yards, had a touchdown reception along with Darius France, Tai Colquhoun and Riley Sagriff. Jack Lewis converted all 10 scores and kicked a field goal while the defence forced a safety.
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“They never come easy, you try not to take it for granted and enjoy the ride,” said LaChance, who noted the franchise recorded its 500th all-time win this season. “For such a storied franchise, that’s been around so long and at times been dominant, you try to sit back and look at things and it’s pretty neat.”
St. Clair will host the Canadian Junior Football League final for the first time since 2017 on Nov. 9 when the Saints host the Okanagan Sun, who advanced on Sunday with a 28-14 win over the Regina Thunder.
“Winning the OFC is amazing, but we want to win a natty,” Guenette said of a national title. “Playing here is amazing and I know (Saturday) night, a lot of us did appreciate it because for some it was their first title, but for many of us it was our third and we’re looking for a bigger goal, but it’s hard not to take a moment.”
jpparker@postmedia.com
twitter.com/winstarparker
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