BY SCOTT
HADDOW
The first victory of the Sudbury Spartans 2006 season has
breathed new life into the squad.
In Week One, The Spartans were slapped around by Tri-City
62-13.
They nursed their injuries and egos during a bye in Week
Two.
"When you get clipped 63-12, guys start to second guess
themselves...but with the win the mood has changed on the
team," said head coach Chris Bartolucci.
In Week Three, last weekend, Sudbury charged out and dumped
the Oakville Longhorns 45-35.
The Spartans lay Saturday night against the Quinte Limestone
Panthers at Queen's Athletic Field. Game time is 7 pm.
The win evened out the Spartans record at 1-1, and puts the
team in fourth place in the north/central division.
"It was fantastic to win in front of the home crowd," said Bartolucci. "It was huge for us as we didn't want to start the season 0-2. We vindicated ourselves from our performance against Tri-City. We're still suspect in some areas, but we're working on it to keep going forward. One thing that impressed me was we threw and ran over 500-yards of total offence. That's really good. We might have stumbled onto something we might not thought we had."
The offence was ignited by Dan Leduc, who recorded four
touchdowns and quarterback Paul Gauthier, who tossed three
touchdowns and threw for 268 yards.
"Offence is always going to be key," said Bartolucci. "Ball control is even more key and that was part of our plan.
We know we have a good offence and a good offensive line.
While we might be an offensive threat, we are still vulnerable
on defence and we must shore that up. Our coverages are weak
and our tackling skills are poor. We have to change the basic
fundamentals of our defence."
Despite the patchwork defence corps, it still hung tough
when the team needed them to.
"We asked the defence to make three big stands for us in the
fourth quarter last week...and they responded by stopping the
attack," said Bartolucci.
The players are feeling more secure about their skills.
"The win was big for our confidence," said receiver Brandon
Dougan. "It was good to do because it shows us we can beat a
solid team and that will give us a lot more confidence going
into this weekend and the rest of the year. Our offence has to
keep going and refining our game. If we do that, we can score a
lot of points. The defence will have to play hard."
The Spartans could be without the services of Dave St.
Amour, who injured his groin in practice last week. He's being
monitored on a day-to-day basis to see when he'll return.
"The guys will have to carry the ball for each other and step up to produce," said Bartolucci. "I am expecting a good game from Stephen Gravel to fill the void."
