JOHN CUDMORE

The Huron Heights Warriors' bid for a Metro Bowl title was dashed Thursday afternoon as the St. Michael's Kerry Blues roared back from an early deficit for a 23-7 victory in a semifinal game played at North York's Esther Shiner Stadium.

St. Michaels' speedster Nick Naimool scored two touchdowns - one on a 30-yard pass play with quarterback Tyler Pritty and another on a 55-yard interception return to ice the outcome late in the game - as the Kerry Blues ended the Warriors season for the second straight year.

St. Michael's claimed its second straight Metro Bowl last December at the expense of the Warriors, who finished with a 9-1-1 overall regular season and playoff record.

The contest was the Newmarket school's fourth consecutive visit to the Metro Bowl playoffs and each time the York Region Athletic Association champions have been turned away.

This time it was a well-balanced Kerry Blues offence, led by the passing of Pritty, who entered the game in the second quarter, that stymied Huron Heights.

"Things just didn't bounce our way this game," said Huron Heights' running back Connor Anderson who, despite tearing off a pair of 20-yard runs in the opening quarter, played a limited role and was held off the scoresheet for the first time this season. "I don't know what happened."

After the early score, the St. Mike's defence stymied the Warriors bid to establish its triple-option offence for most of the remainder of the first half. When Huron did break through, an Ian Sherriff interception at the goal line snuffed out a drive with just over one minute to play in the second quarter.

"I think we had a couple of stops that might put pause in a coach's game plan," surmised St. Mike's head coach Paul Forbes. "In a lot of ways, the game started the way we expected. We told our guys Huron was on a roll and their final-year guys had a lot of motivation from last year's game."

The Warriors jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead as Cody Byers hauled in a Troy McCusker pass for an 18-yard scoring play to cap an 80-yard drive three minutes into the game.

The Pritty-Naimool hookup aside, Huron still led 7-6 at halftime, although the momentum was clearly shifted to the Conference of Independent Schools Athletic Association champions.

"We took the lead and had to remind the guys at halftime we still had a chance to win the game," said Warriors' head coach Al Rover afterwards. "We couldn't beat them again this year, so we'll sit down and figure out what went wrong. It's just so frustrating it's difficult right now to come up with reasons why we lost.

"We both made adjustments at halftime but I guess ours were not as good as theirs."

Wide receiver Brendan Morgan gave the Kerry Blues their first lead with a 24-yard run midway through the third quarter and a two-point conversion made it 14-7.

Perhaps the pivotal point in the game came in the fourth quarter when the Warriors turned the ball over on downs at the Kerry Blues 30-yard line. With the wind at his back, Pritty drove his side to a 30-yard field goal by Chris Patrician for a 17-7 cushion with 6:48 to play. Moments later, Naimool added the clincher when he picked off McCusker's desperation pass and returned it for six points.

"It was like two heavyweight fighters throwing bombs at each other," said Warriors' offensive co-ordinator Heath Weir. "We caught them early and they caught us late. They showed us things we just don't see in our league."

St. Michael's will face Whitby's Donald Wilson Gators, a 9-3 winner over Toronto's Northern Red Knights in the other semifinal, in the OFSAA Bills Toronto Series Football Bowls, Dec. 3 at the Rogers Centre. Game time is 8 p.m.

- Aurora shutout streak ends

The Sacred Heart Crusaders managed to go where no other team has recently trod when it scored a goal against the Aurora Golden Eagles.

However, one wasn't enough as the Golden Eagles received two goals from Janine Semkowich in a 2-1 YRAA senior girls hockey victory Tuesday in a showdown of previously unbeaten North Division teams.

Alysa Chalmers scored a first-period powerplay goal for the Crusaders, marking the first goal scored on the Golden Eagles in 12 periods in tournament and league play.

Aurora improved to 4-0 to sit atop the North Divisoin standings. Sacred Heart suffered its first loss in three starts.

Aurora hosts the unbeaten Markham Marauders, whose 3-0 record tops the South Division, Monday afternoon at the Aurora Community Centre. Game time is 3 p.m.

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Defending regional champion Sacred Heart Crusaders are offf to a wining start in senior boys basketball after stomping the Sutton Sabres 62-31 Thursday afternoon in its YRAA season opener.

The Crusaders received 11 points from Audley Sobers while Kody Brake matched that total for the Sabres.

In other opening week action, the Sir William Mulock Ravens outlasted the Cardinal Carter Celtics 58-48 behind a 16-point effort from Zane Cassim to claim their second win in as many starts. Ramzy Nicholas scored a game-high 19 points for the Celtics.

Huron Heights Warriors rode 13-point performances from Mike Wilson and Hans Jalloul to a 70-29 victory over the Our Lady of the Lake Bulldogs while Aurora Golden Eagles kicked off their season with a 72-59 triumph over Newmarket Raiders.