The Windsor Dukes junior football team claimed the provincial junior AA title with a 27-21 win over the Mission Roadrunners Dec. 5 at BC Place.
The breakthrough play came in the fourth quarter when star quarterback Ryan Baker hit receiver Ben McMichael for a 95-yard catch and run touchdown pass.
“He was gone, man. He was gone,” Windsor head coach Shawn Myers said of McMichael’s sprint that started just five yards from his own goal line. “Ryan threw a good ball, he caught it in some pretty nasty traffic and he kind of got lucky, to be honest, with the completion when his feet hit the ground with the ball. From there it was all skill. He juked a couple of guys and then from there it was off to the races. He never looked back.”
McMichael’s 95-yard sprint came shortly after he made another big play, this time on the defensive side with a key interception. That sequence typified a game that was characterized by tough defence interspersed with breakaway plays, said Myers.
“It wasn’t a chisel kind of a game, it was home run plays,” he said.
Windsor running back Keelan White opened the scoring near the end of the second quarter with a three-yard touchdown run. Mission responded on the last play of the half to take a 7-6 lead into the break.
Baker regained the lead for the Dukes near the end of the third quarter, punching in a one-yard touchdown run followed by a two-point convert to make it 14-7 for Windsor. Baker then added his second rushing touchdown of the day midway through the fourth quarter following McMichael’s interception in Mission territory.
Mission responded with five minutes left to make it 21-14 but on the next possession Baker hit McMichael with the home run pass to give Windsor a commanding late lead. Mission replied again with a touchdown with a little more than a minute left but time ran out on the Roadrunners, making Windsor the champs. Baker was named the game’s MVP.
“Ryan has been the MVP of everything this year. He’s the true quarterback leader that you hope for,” said Myers. “He’s got a great arm, he throws the deep ball. … He can read the defence, he’ll change the play on the line. He’s got the confidence to do it. And when he doesn’t see anything open he’ll run it off himself, drop his shoulder and get an extra few yards. He’s been the guy all year.”
Jeremy Sinclair also picked up an award in the championship game, earning top lineman honours.
“He’s strong, he’s smart,” said Myers. “He really understands the game well. He’s been kind of a leader on that offensive line group, making sure everybody knows what they’re doing in the moment.”
Sinclair also kept up a tradition that began in the very first game of the season.
“We joke that he gets a holding penalty every game – sure enough he got another one in the final,” said Myers with a laugh, adding that Sinclair’s other skills far outweigh his daily penalty. “I’ll forgive a hold.”
The Dukes were pushed to championship levels by a group of talented athletes, said Myers.
“We’ve been fortunate, we’ve got a couple of horses,” he said. “Really at the JV level one, two or three really good players can make a big difference for you. We’re fortunate we’ve got a handful of guys. You can’t really shut down one guy. If Ben doesn’t burn you, Perri (receiver Julien Perri) will burn you, Keelan will burn you, Ryan will burn you by himself if he has to.”
This championship win bodes well for the future of the Windsor football program, said Myers.
“We told them right from Day 1 that if they had the desire to go out and get it, they certainly had the skill to do it,” he said. “They proved they had the desire. And I don’t see that changing. I see these guys as a unit hopefully making a run at the senior level if not next year, then in two years when they’re in Grade 12.”
