Canada falls to U.S. in Friday night International Bowl finale

Photo credit: USA Football / Trey Bell.

Under the Friday night lights at the University of Texas – Arlington’s Maverick Stadium, USA Football’s U-19 National Team hosted Football Canada’s U-19 National Team. Reeling from a 23-17 loss in the 2012 IFAF U-19 World Championship gold medal game, Team USA looked for revenge in Friday’s International Bowl matchup. Canada was in tough as it not only faced a highly motivated squad but one that was comprised of some of the top recruits from the 2014 class.

Team USA took an early 3-0 lead on the game’s opening possession with a 32-yard field goal from Clemson commit Alex Spence.

After Team USA’s defense forced a 3-and-out, a Canada punt pinned the U.S. at their own 15-yard line. On the opening play of the drive, Canada linebacker Cédric Lussier-Roy recovered a fumble in the end zone resulting from a muffed Team USA exchange. With the turnover, Canada took a 7-3 lead with just under 6 minutes to play in the opening quarter.

Team USA punched the ball in from the 4-yard line on the following possession to regain the U.S. advantage, 9-7. Canada nearly evened the score on the resulting Team USA extra-point attempt. Following a blocked kick, Nate Rostek (Halifax, NS) picked up the loose ball, returning it the length of the field but was ruled out of bounds just short of the end zone.

Canada continued to stall offensively, going 3-and-out after forcing a U.S. turnover on downs. Team USA widened its lead as Oregon commit, Charles Nelson returned the resulting Canada punt for 6 to make the score 15-7. Canada’s special teams would come up big once again as they blocked their second straight U.S. extra-point attempt.

A 2-yard quarterback keeper by N.C. State commit, Jalan McClendon would widen the Team USA lead 22-7 heading into halftime.

In the second half, Team USA’s offensive production included a pair of touchdown runs from Oklahoma running back commit, Samaje Perine to make the final score 43-7.

Trivel Pinto (Toronto, ON) was named Canada’s player of the game after racking up 70 all-purpose yards contributing offensively as both a receiver as well as a special teams returner.

As part of Saturday’s International Bowl action, the Football Canada Cup [U-18] National Team will play USA Football’s U-18 squad at 7 PM CT. The game can be seen live in Canada by visiting www.footballcanada.com or www.internationalbowl.com.