‘They deserve better’: Lachance takes blame as Beefeaters edge Saints in OT
The London Beefeaters needed overtime, but they finally got past their Highway 401 rivals.
London beat the St. Clair Football team 26-19 on Saturday night at Acumen Stadium, ending a four-year playoff drought against St. Clair.
With the score tied 12-12 late in the fourth quarter, Saints quarterback Quinn O’Billovich hit Maddux Bois with a short pass. Bois took it 66 yards for a touchdown, stiff-arming a pair of London tacklers along the sideline on the way.
The St. Clair defence came up big on the next possession, when Damari Joseph picked off Beefeaters quarterback Xavier Zatylny.
London did get the ball back one last time with under a minute left. Zatylny hit a deep ball to put the Beefeaters in scoring position. With time running out, he rolled to his left from three yards out and found Jason Leonard for the tying touchdown, sending the game to overtime.
St. Clair won the coin toss and deferred, giving London the first possession. Each team got a chance from 35 yards out.
The Beefeaters cashed in. Zatylny scrambled out of the pocket, avoided a sack and hit Brandon Visouvath for the touchdown.
The Saints had their chance to answer. On third from 34 yards out, O’Billovich threw a perfect pass into the end zone. It was headed right into Nate Carter’s hands, but London defensive back Jordan Dayman got just enough of the ball to knock it away and end the game.
After the game, Saints head coach Mike Lachance, who also calls the offence, put the loss on himself.
“I didn’t get it done today. I didn’t have a very good game,” Lachance said. “I didn’t have my best in the biggest moment today. I think if I was, if I did a better job, we would have won the game today.”
He pointed to the first half, when St. Clair moved the ball but couldn’t finish drives.
“We got stopped in the red zone four times. We had to kick three field goals,” he said. “We should have 21 at least. So as a as a play caller, I didn’t do a very good job in the first half today.”
Lachance thought his team had it won when the Saints went ahead late.
“Generally speaking, with our defense, I think we win in that situation,” he said.
In the end, he said, the loss is on the coach.
“They always say coaches take the bullets for the losses and I’ll definitely take it from this, this group today,” Lachance said. “I love this team and they deserve better. Just, disappointed I couldn’t give it to them.”