Jr. Glads move to 3-3 with win over Rebels

The Sudbury Jr. Varsity Gladiators completed a two-game season sweep of the Vaughan Rebels on the weekend, racking up a 43-21 victory on the road this past Saturday.

The only thing this weekend's game had in common with a 38-0 Sudbury triumph two weeks ago was the fact that the Gladiators came out on the winning end of both encounters.

"Vaughan was way more prepared for us than we were for them off the bat," noted Gladiators junior head coach Shane Hutchinson.

"They knew exactly what we were going to do. They knew that we were really going to stack the box against them."

After displaying almost no semblance of a passing game earlier this month in their visit to Sudbury, the Vaughan attack seemed pretty much one-dimensional.

"We wanted to stop the run and force them to throw, but they were effective in the first half throwing the football," said Hutchinson.

Conversely, where the Gladiators had utilized their big play offense to spark their victory on the home turf of James Jerome, adverse weather conditions forced a change in plans.

As a result, Sudbury trailed 21-14 at the half, with both touchdowns for the locals coming courtesy of Bankamina Djuwa N'Galamulume, both on runs of less than five yards.

"Our explosiveness comes from our passing offense, guys like Nicholas Rideout, Isaac Walt, Calvin Sawyer. All of our big time players look for the deep plays," said Hutchinson. "But we only completed about five balls all game."

With the Sudbury offensive line sensing a need to takeover the contest, the Gladiators marched on the opening drive of the second half, eating up more than seven minutes and deadlocking the game at 21-21 following an 18 yard TD pass from Rideout to Walt.

The visitors then recovered an onside kick, but were unable to move the ball and were forced to punt. The first Sudbury break would come courtesy of a fumble by the Rebels punt returner, setting up N'Galamulume for his third score of the game.

A botched snap forced Rideout to scramble on the point after, using his speed to make good on a two-point conversion. Then, Hutchinson went back to the well, calling for a second straight onside kick. While Vaughan recovered the ball, the game effectively turned.

"It got a little chippy on the onside kick recovery," said Hutchinson. "Our kids really got emotionally involved at that point. They really got fired up. It kind of put a chip on their shoulders."

Sudbury began to win the battle in the trenches. Despite still leading by just eight points (29-21) with 12:47 to play, Hutchinson sensed a shift in momentum. "Our offensive line was blowing their line off the ball," he said.

N'Galamulume would add two more touchdown runs, both in excess of fifty yards, finishing the contest with between 250 and 300 yards rushing, according to the Sudbury head coach. "On both long touchdown runs, Djuwa went untouched," noted Hutchinson.

"I was really proud of how the team responded in the second half."

With the victory, the Gladiators improved to 3-3, though the road to the playoffs will be tough.

Still ahead are matchups with the undefeated Peterborough Wolverines (6-0) and the second place North Halton Crimson Tide (5-1).

Hutchinson, however, maintains that both are beatable, if his team arrives ready to engage in a full 60-minute battle. "We have a tendency of starting slow, especially against good teams," he said. "We dig ourselves too deep a hole in the first half."

"We really need to come out fired up."