Photo courtesy of WJ Smith Photography 

Quinte Skyhawks @ London Beefeaters – Saturday October 19, 6;00pm – City Wide Field | WATCH HERE

For the first time in history the Beefeaters and Skyhawks will meet in the Canadian Bowl playoffs when they face each other on Saturday night in London.  The winner advances to the Ontario Conference championship game and will be one step closer in hosting the Canadian Bowl.

They met only once during the regular season when the Beefeaters recorded the 37-10 victory at Quinte.  LJ Dyer and Elijah Prosper ran wild combing for 361 yards on the ground on 31 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns.  In all, the Beefeaters rushed for an eye-popping 438 yards against the Skyhawks defence.  They will no doubt see another heavy load of the ground attack this Saturday once again. 

The Skyhawks didn’t have much success moving the ball against the Beefeaters defence gaining 152 yards through the air, hampered by two interceptions and only 33 yards on the ground.  Their lone touchdown came in the fourth quarter. 

The Beefeaters received a bye into this semi-final after finishing the regular season as the second seed.  The #3 Skyhawks had last weekend off as well after receiving a win when the GTA Grizzlies forfeited their quarterfinal meeting.

On paper this match-up is uneven and heavily in favour of the Beefeaters.  They averaged over 33 points a game while the Skyhawks countered with 23 each contest.  On the defensive side the Beefeaters allowed just over 20 points and the Skyhawks coughed up 26.   That said, if the Skyhawks can slow the Beefeaters running attack and win the turnover battle we could see an upset unfold.

Last time the Skyhawks played in London, it wasn’t very memorable for them.  On September 9th last year the Beefeaters claimed a 70-3 victory.  

Environment Canada is calling for clear skies and sunshine on Saturday making it a perfect fall day for playoff football.