skip navigation

Canterbury falls short in championship game

By JOHN RINKENBAUGH, Special to The News-Press, 11/05/16, 12:30PM EDT

Share

Two big plays and four interceptions brought an end to conference championship dreams as Canterbury fell to All Saints Academy 25-16.

Canterbury opened with game with grinding scoring drive led by tailback Brendan Fritz who finished the game with 143 yards rushing.

Quarterback Danny Cunningham finished the drive with a one yard touchdown run.

The Cougars quickly followed with a safety when Mitchell Hueniken knocked a bad punt snap out of the end zone for a safety.

But the Saints from Winter Haven then went deep.  All Saints quarterback Brock Weirather found running back Dale Booker streaking down the sideline for a 71-yard touchdown pass.

“We had guys trying to be heroes and not doing the things that got us here,” said Canterbury head coach Derrick Crudup.

The Saints next stopped a Canterbury drive when Zach Wilson snagged the 2nd of his three interceptions in the end zone.  ACA went on to score another touchdown on a Weirather one yard run to take a 14-9 lead into the half.

The Cougars defense led by Hueniken, who had two sacks, stopped ACA’s long opening drive of the 2nd half.  That led to another Cunningham one yard touchdown putting Canterbury back on top with 44 seconds left in the third quarter.

That’s when the Saints' Fisher Williams broke the Cougars' backs with a kickoff return right up the middle to put ACA back on top for good.

“We let up on a couple of plays.  We were the dominant team but we let up on the kickoff return and long touchdown,” Hueniken said.

ACA put the game away when Zach Frielich nailed a 39-yard field goal with 1:35 left on the clock.

While many Cougars seniors had tears in their eyes at the end of the game, Crudup saw a lot of positives, “It was a great season, we went farther than anybody would have guessed.  This will build on next year.”

The Cougars end the season at 6-3 while All Saints finishes 7-4, winning the FCS championship of the Sunshine State Athletic Conference.

ALL SAINTS ACADEMY 25, CANTERBURY 16

ASA   7 | 7 | 8 | 3 — 25

CAN   9 | 0 | 7 | 0 — 16

1st quarter

C:  Danny Cunningham 1 run (Jordan Hummel kick) 7:13

C:  Mitchell Huenikin safety 5:29

ASA:  Dale Booker 71 pass from Brock Weirather (Zach Frielich kick)  2:14

2nd quarter

ASA:  Weirather 1 run (Frielich kick) 4:35

3rd quarter

C:  Cunningham 1 run (Hummel kick) :44

ASA:  Fisher Williams 93 kickoff return (Jack Garcia pass from Zach Wilson) :31

4th quarter

ASA:  Frielich 39 FG 1:35

Rushing

ASA: Dale Booker  11-39, Weirather 10-0, Chase Leland 6-30, Fisher Williams 5-20, Zach Wilson 3-0. CAN:  Brandan Fritz 26-143 Danny Cunningham 5-6, Jack Zullo 1-0, Mitchell Hueniken 1-9

Passing                                                                                                                                               

ASA: Weirather 2-6-1 78. CAN: Cunningham 8-25-4 60

Receiving

ASA: Booker 1-71, Wilson 1-7. CAN: Thomas O’Sullivan 3-19, Hueniken 3-31, Tyler Muenscher 1-5, Fritz 1-5