By Larry Moko
It's the matchup that the Bishop Tonnos Titans have been looking forward to.
The 2024 Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference championship football game on Tuesday, Nov. 19 will be a rematch of last year's thrilling high school final between the Titans and Burlington's Corpus Christi Longhorns.
"We had all off-season to think about it," Tonnos coach Anthony Tassone said of the Longhorns come-from-behind one-point victory which denied the Titans a shot at a second-consecutive OFSAA Bowl title.
"Our three goals this year were to go undefeated (check), win the city championship (check) and get a trip to OFSAA (still to be determined). So Corpus stands in the way."
At Wednesday's GHAC semifinals, Tonnos advanced with a 39-18 win over the Assumption Crusaders, while Corpus Christi punched its ticket by trouncing Georgetown, 57-18.
The BT vs. Corpus winner earns a berth to OFSAA's Golden Horseshoe Bowl on Nov. 26 in Windsor.
Flanker Adrian Tassone and running back Matt Jurcic led the way for Tonnos by scoring two touchdowns apiece. Quarterback Hudson Taylor had the other BT major.
Jurcic also booted five converts and BT received four points by way of a pair of conceded safety touches.
Quarterback Thiago Sousa-Dias had the lone touchdown for Assumption, which trailed 25-12 at the half. Thiago Braun added three field goals (30, 33 and 12 yards) plus a convert.
Tonnos also yielded a safety touch.
"Defensively, we had some great shots," the Titans coach said. "And, offensively, we moved the ball. You've got to be happy any time you put up 39 points."
After the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic champions took a 2-0 lead on a safety, Frankie Perri of Assumption blocked a punt and Charlie Legros recovered the ball. That set up Braun's 12-yard field that gave the Crusaders their only lead of the game.
Tonnos responded late in the first quarter with a 45-yard punt return by Tassone which led to a seven-yard touchdown run by Jurcic.
A 27-yard pass from Taylor to Jackson Brown then set the stage for a one-yard run for a touchdown by Taylor.
Trailing 18-3, Assumption battled back on a 35-yard touchdown run by Sousa-Dias, a conversion and a safety touch. However, a 29-yard pass-reception touchdown by Tassone on the final play from scrimmage in the first half proved to be a key moment.
Said coach Tassone: "We got ourselves out of field goal position and we knew we had to put up points. We end almost every practice going through scenarios and that was one of them. Sure enough it helped us today."
A pair of field goals by Assumption accounted for the points of the third quarter.
Tonnos rounded out the scoring on an eight-yard TD run by Jurcic and a 16-yard touchdown grab by Tassone.
"Adrian caught some key passes and scored a couple of touchdowns today," the Tonnos coach said. "And our linebackers Kaleb Horvat-Rankin and Collin Quan-Soon had a good game. Again, Hudson is doing a great job leading the team."
Assumption coach Ivan Yurgan said he was proud of the effort shown by his players.
"We knew we were in tough," Yurgan said. "I don't think the score is indicative of how the game went. We're just a small school in south Burlington with about 1,000 kids and we were facing the three-time defending Hamilton Catholic champions. I think we surprised Bishop Tonnos today."
The Crusaders coach also pointed out that his team "took Corpus Christi to the limit" in their recent Halton Catholic final (10-10 with two minutes remaining).
Bishop Tonnos' undefeated junior football team will take on the visiting St. John Henry Newman Cardinals Friday for the championship.
Photos by Richard Andoga
More photos on the HWCDSB Athletics Facebook page here
