Silverthorn Spartans wideout Noel Llevi scored both of his team’s touchdowns in a 14-4 victory over the West Humber Vikes on Wednesday at West Humber Collegiate Institute.
It was the season opener for both teams, who compete out of the Toronto District Secondary School Athletics Association’s 29-club Tier 1 division.
After scoring the game’s opening touchdown in the first quarter, Llevi returned a punt from midfield for the score with less than five minutes to go in the fourth.
Suddenly, a three-point Spartans lead quickly became 10, too insurmountable for the Vikes.
“We had some nice blocking on the side, so I took it to the end,” Llevi said. “There was a big gap and then … touchdown.”
Though he is content with the victory, Spartans coach Donald Drummond believes Llevi can do a lot more.
“On the punt return, he should have caught it in the air, instead of fumbling it,” Drummond said.
“We need to get to the stage when we’re playing the more experienced teams, you can’t afford a fumble on any play.
“When you fumble the ball and have to pick it up, it’s going to mess up your timing. Your blockers can only block for a certain amount of time.”
Just before the conclusion of the first half, Vikes running back Wayne Moore rushed for a touchdown that was called back to due to a blocking violation.
Moore, who also plays linebacker on defence, says while his team continued to plug away in the second half, the missed opportunity changed the outcome of the game.
“A big play [like that] gets called back, especially with young kids or new kids playing football, it sucks the life out of them,” Drummond said.
“You have to learn from something like that. When mistakes do happen, you have to rise above them.”
While Vikes’ head coach Andre Bobb declined comment, only saying “I’m that frustrated right now,” offensive coach Terrence Thomas is confident his team will progress as the season moves along.
“We got a lot of penalties on the run, minor mistakes or we probably would have had three touchdowns on the run alone,” Thomas said.
“We had some mental errors and penalties and kids playing for the first time, but they executed pretty well considering for a lot of them it was their first time playing.”
The league kicked off on Tuesday with Sir John A. MacDonald defeating Malvern 20-6 at home.