Two North Bay Bulldogs teams remain in the chase for football glory this weekend

The Bulldogs U12 Tyke team battle Sarnia in a rematch of last year's title game

Article content The North Bay Bulldogs Tyke U12 team is in the Ontario Summer Football League title game versus Sarnia. The Tykes beat Sarnia last year to win the crown. This time they are on the road due to a last-second loss 62-56 loss at home to Sarnia earlier this summer.

Sunday championship finals for the U12 Bulldog Tykes and Sarnia takes place at York University in Toronto at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. Phil Dampier is the Bulldog Tykes head coach and while he’s happy with his offence, his defence needs to make adjustments for the rematch. Dampier naturally won’t get into specifics, but promises changes.

“I am hoping it isn’t another shootout. We have made some strategic changes on defence to limit some of their gimmick plays and some of their key players,” says Dampier. Kaleb Lavoie had two touchdowns in the Bulldogs 24-16 semifinal win over Mississauga last week.

“I think it will be a difficult game, Sarnia hits hard and they are really fast. We just have to also hit hard and dig deep,” says Lavoie. As for the North Bay Bulldogs Bantam U14 squad, they are off to Peterborough for their semi-final matchup on Saturday morning.

Last week, in a matchup at Mike O’Shea Field in North Bay, the bantams beat the Clarington Knights on Saturday 49-30 in the quarterfinals. Coach Crista Morgan is looking forward to the road tilt. ”If we play the same way we did last week versus Peterborough this weekend, I see us going to London for the league title game.

Watching these kids grow as both players and young men is so much fun to watch and be a part of,” says Morgan. The U14 Bantams play at 10:00 a.m. in Peterborough, so the team is leaving North Bay at 4:40 a.m., according to Morgan. That should make a tough game a little bit tougher.

However, defensive end Kyle Bailey says his team will be ready. “It is early, but we played our last game at 10 in morning,” says Bailey, who hopes for a better start on Saturday. “We did get off to a slow start the last time we played because we were on the field the whole time.”

Ben Gallant led the way for the U14 squad in the quarter-final win, scoring four touchdowns. Gallant says another slow start like the last game versus Peterborough, must be avoided. “Our offence and defence have to play well together.

We have to get our offence going in the first quarter, not wait until the second quarter,” says Gallant. Carl Beaudry runs that offence and is most worried about getting the team prepped for playing cohesive football. “We just want to perfect what we are doing, although we add a couple of wrinkles.

We need a good, solid start and no turnovers,” says Beaudry. Peterborough recovered three onside kicks in the first matchup, although that is a special teams issue. Connor O’Neill is the Bulldogs defensive coordinator and hopes for a repeat performance of last week’s game for his unit.

“Do just what we did last week, no mistakes in the first quarter, and come out strong,” says O’Neill.