The Windsor AKO Fratmen turned the tables on the Hamilton Hurricanes to capture the team’s first Ontario Football Conference championship since 1999.
Windsor, which suffered a 33-point defeat at home to the top-seeded Hurricanes in the regular season, never trailed Saturday in a 16-9 victory Saturday to capture the Teddy Morris Memorial Trophy at Hamilton’s St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School.
It was the first title as head coach for Mike LaChance, who was making his fifth appearance in final in 10 years of guiding the team.
LaChance also credited AKO defensive coordinator Mike Morencie, who upset the timing of the high-scoring Hamilton offence by refusing to blitz and had his players drop into coverage the entire game.
“We watched the film and saw where they beat us,” Crumb said. “We played a lot of coverage and manned up their best receivers.
Crumb notched his first of three interceptions on Hamilton’s opening possession and it set up the first of three Anthony Malandruccolo field goals to put AKO on the board first. Austin Lumley’s one-yard score pushed Windsor’s lead to 10-0 as the offence found success on the ground.
Josh Wright batted down a ball in the end zone forcing Hamilton to kick a field goal to make it a one-score game in the third quarter.
Malandruccolo’s second field goal restored the 10-point AKO lead and after Hamilton cut it to a one-score on another field goal off a blocked punt, Malandruccolo’s third field goal made it 16-6.
In fact, the Fratmen ran only two types of play in the fourth quarter while leaning on Crawford.
“It was a simple run left and simple run right off guard and it was unstoppable,” Crawford said.
A third Hamilton field goal made it a one-score game again and the Hurricanes had a chance to tie the game on the final play of the game after a pass interference call set them up at the AKO 15. However, Wright stepped in again to knock a pass down and end the game.
“The emotion I saw in locker room just showed how much it meant not just to me, but the entire locker room,” Crawford said.
Windsor now hosts the national semifinal at Windsor Stadium against the Vancouver Islander Raiders, who won the British Columbia Football Conference championship. Game time at Windsor Stadium is 1 p.m. with the winner earning a berth in the national final on the road against the Prairie Football Conference champion.