Ontario, Quebec to face off in U16 Eastern Challenge final
July 5, Sackville, NB – Team Ontario and Team Québec earned their way to a gold medal game in the U16 Eastern Regional Challenge semi-finals played at Alumni Field in Sackville, NB, on Wednesday.
In the first of the two East region semi-final, Team Ontario faced Team Nova Scotia. After a tightly contested first half, Ontario had a slight 8-0 lead going into the break. In what appeared to be stellar halftime adjustments, the Ontarian side came out with a vengeance, opening the flood gates and adding 19 more points to the 7 scored by Nova Scotia, securing their spot in Saturday’s final.
Je’shi Carter (offensive) and Brett Proudfoot (defensive) were selected as Ontario’s MVPs for this game, while Aiden Buteau (offensive) and Isaac Currie (defensive) earned the honours for Team Nova Scotia.
The second semi-final in the Eastern Challenge had Team Québec taking on Team New Brunswick. The defending champions from Quebec showed all their prowess once more and took down New Brunswick 58-0 to ensure a participation in the final, with a chance to play for a second consecutive gold medal on Saturday.
Quebec’s MVPs in this semi-final were David Gabriel Georges (offensive) and Emile Rodrigue (defensive), and Abdulmatin Anofi (offensive) and Ethan St Pierre (defensive) were selected as New Brunswick’s top performers.
Wednesday’s results set up an electric finals weekend in Sackville, when Team Ontario and Team Québec will play for gold starting at 7 pm AT, while the Maritimes neighbour Nova Scotia and New Brunswick will battle for bronze at 4 pm AT. Watch all the action live on Football Canada TV and visit https://footballcanada.com/event/2023-u16-eastern-regional-challenge/ for the complete rosters, schedule and results.
