Sudbury Junior Varsity Gladiators lose season opener

It wasn't a win, but the first game under the stewardship of new head coach Shane Hutchinson produced a solid effort on which the Sudbury Junior Varsity Gladiators can build.

The younger of the two local OFC (Ontario Football Conference) teams dropped a 27-16 decision to the Huronia Stallions Saturday night in Barrie. Trailing 21-9 at the half, the visitors received a defensive touchdown from Ryan Kat, as well as a short-yard run from Carter Struk, combined with a safety to account for their scoring.

"We started off a little bit slow," acknowledged Hutchinson. "We’re young on the offensive line. The kids really had not experienced this kind of level before. We tried to prep them on how fast the game is, how much bigger and stronger these kids are. By the second half, we had picked up."

Offensively, the Gladiators enjoyed most of their success through the air, as Lively quarterback Nick Rideout enjoyed a smooth transition to the junior varsity ranks. "Nick played phenomenal," noted Hutchinson, a former quarterback himself. "He got some good rushing yards, was very calm in the pocket, and was smart. He didn’t throw an interception."

Not an easy assignment when the defense knows whats coming. "We couldn’t establish a running game, so it was hard to catch them off-guard," said Hutchinson. "They really sat back on our passing game." Despite this challenge, Rideout managed to connect with slotback Isaac Walt for six catches totalling more than one hundred yards as part of the Gladiators aerial attack.

Defensively, Andrew North of Confederation proved to be a force to be reckoned with, garnering an interception and a fumble recovery, and nearly returning both for touchdowns.

"We had chances to win the game," said Hutchinson. "Twice our defense created turnovers in the red zone. We stalled because of penalties. "They created scoring on our mistakes, and we couldn’t capitalize on their mistakes, and that was the ball game."

The Junior Gladiators are back on the road next Saturday - they will not play their first home game until June 13th - visiting the Clarington Knights, a squad which opened their 2015 campaign with a 35-19 loss to the Toronto Jr Argonauts on Saturday as well.