HAMILTON-WENTWORTH CATHOLIC DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD
BT Titans Win Third Straight Championship

The situation was beginning to look bleak for the Bishop Tonnos Titans, but their quarterback remained confident they could pull out a win.

Tonnos trailed by 16 points mid way through the third quarter against the visiting St. Thomas More Knights before storming back for a 33-26 victory Friday.

That result gave Tonnos its third consecutive Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic senior high school football championship.

"We're never out of a game," Titans quarterback Hudson Taylor said. "Even last week against Bishop Ryan (in a semifinal) we were down 13-0 early. We finished that game winning, 48-21. It felt the same this week. We just stayed calm and turned it around."

Taylor sparked the comeback by tossing three second-half touchdown passes and plunging ahead himself for a one-yard major.

"I had faith in my receivers," Taylor said.

Trailing 19-3, Taylor connected with Kaleb Horvat-Rankin for a 45-yard pass-and-run touchdown. That was followed by a fumble recovery near midfield and a 39-yard scoring strike to wide receiver Joseph Cafagna to cut the deficit to three points.

Cafagna, then gathered in a deep pass for a 45-yard touchdown reception. "I felt like we put them away right there," Cafagna said.

According to Titans coach Anthony Tassone, some "adjustments" had to be made during the team's halftime discussions.

"We started off a bit slow (in the third quarter)," he said, "but once we got rolling we were fine.

"Hudson has that (ability) in him, no doubt. Matthew Jurcic ran the ball well and our receivers were great making some key receptions over the top."

A 20-yard field goal by Johnny Theodoropoulos -- his second of the game -- capped the scoring for first-place Tonnos.

Second-place More made it interesting with a drive which culminated in a short touchdown pass from quarterback Marcus Perri to Rogan Monaghan with 37 seconds remaining. The Titans, however, recovered a short kickoff jump ball to run out the clock.

"It was a heart-breaking loss," Knights coach Claudio Silvestri said. "We had them down then we let them up. We paid the price. There was a momentum swing and they were able to bounce back.

"Defence has been the heart and soul of our team the entire season. We didn't help them enough on offence or special teams today."

For Tonnos, it's the second-straight year the team has finished on top of the standings with an undefeated record.

"This group here is special," Tassone said of his players. "It's a moment that will go down in the history books at Bishop Tonnos ... being down 19-3 and overcoming that."

The Knights, who led 5-3 on a field goal by Adrian Klindzic-Dovial and a conceded safety touch, struck for a 65-yard touchdown run by Caleb Kowalchuk with 16 seconds before halftime.
"We were going to kneel," the More coach said, "then we thought 'give Caleb a shot.' He's a dynamic player."

Kowalchuk then added a  64-yard pass-and-run score to give More its biggest lead of the contest.

Tonnos advances to a Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference semifinal game on Nov. 13 against Halton Catholic's Assumption Crusaders.

"At the beginning of the year everyone doubted us, saying we couldn't be like last year's team," first-year senior starting quarterback Taylor said. "We proved ourselves by winning the championship."

In the first half of the doubleheader, first-place Tonnos won its junior semifinal playoff over the Bishop Ryan Celtics, 49-7. The Titans will face the second-place St. John Henry Newman Cardinals on Friday, Nov. 15 for the title.  Newman earned its berth with a 22-20 decision over More.