Atom Hawks ready to face Red Storm

  Defeat the Panthers 14-7 in a semifinal to advance to the LMFA atom championship

    Sunday, October 28, 2018

By Rob J. Ross 

LONDON, ON. - There is a storm on the horizon for the St. Thomas Hawks.

It is a welcomed forecast as the Hawks are heading to the atom final for the London Minor Football Association, to face the Red Storm.

Kolton Bergeron and Mason Glover each had touchdowns as the Hawks edged the Panthers, 14-7, in a semifinal, at City Wide Fields. Bergeron also hit Glover for a two-point pass convert.

"That was a hard fought game. It was double chin strap game as they call it as both defences came to play. Points were at a minimum," Hawks' head coach Andrew Walker said. "It was a phenomenal game."

St. Thomas scored both majors in the first half and led 14-0 into the third quarter, before the Panthers clawed back with a converted TD.

"The key was scoring first and coming off the ball hard," said Walker. "We played a little sloppy at the start of the second half, but the kids responded well to everything they faced and they fought hard as a team."

St. Thomas finished the regular season tied for first place with a 5-1 record. Their 20-18 loss to the Cobras, the other 5-1 team, was the tie-breaker. The Hawks were second in points for and tied with the Panthers with the least points allowed.

"We've seen 12 separate kids start to become one. At the start of the season, it was 21 different kids trying to do 21 different things, but now you see the offence is one unit and the defence is one unit, working together, trusting each other," Walker said. "That's the biggest improvement from week one to now.

"At the beginning I thought we're small but we're feisty and we've proven that all year. Each week we come out and fight and we go and we go."

The Hawks beat the Red Storm, 14-6, in their final game of the schedule. The Storm, who finished with a record of 2-2-2, upended the Cobras, 12-6, in their semifinal.

"They're (Red Storm) fast, they're ferocious and they tackle and they don't give up on plays. We're going to have to be ready to make adjustments when they make adjustments to us," said Walker. "It should be a great game.

"We have to play four full quarters of football and we have to focus for the whole game and execute and not dwell on little mistakes, just pick ourselves up and be ready for the next play."

It will be the first final for Walker as a head coach. His previous experience in the final was as an assistant coach with the tyke Hawks.

This year, both the tyke and peewee Hawks had 2-5 records, missing the playoffs. The peewee won their consolation game, edging the Wolverines, 13-12.