Georgetown 87s shock Nelson to win first Tier 1 football title in 50 years

Having just lost 17-15 to Milton’s Craig Kielburger to fall to 0-2 on the season, the last thing the Georgetown 87s were thinking about was making history. At least not of the good kind.

Georgetown was coming off a season in which it had reached the Halton senior tier 1 final for the first time since 2017. But the promise of building on that momentum was quickly fading.

“We sat down with them and said we can draw up plays, but the one thing we can’t coach is effort and desire,” said head coach Jason Laskis. “We put the ball in their court. We said, ‘How good do you want to be?’"

The players answered that question Thursday when they won the school’s first senior tier 1 championship in 50 years, interrupting a Nelson Lords dynasty that had won six of the past seven titles with a convincing 28-11 victory.

“It’s pretty cool to be honest,” said Jayce Baldwin, who ran for 187 yards and three touchdowns. “I had no idea about the history.”

Following its rough start, which included a season-opening 42-12 loss to Nelson, Georgetown reeled off six straight victories, outscoring its opponents 194-28. The 87s' two playoff victories came over the two teams that beat them to start the season.

“It was just putting in the work,” said Javein Smith, who had six tackles on defence and caught two passes for 26 yards in the final. “At the start of the season, guys were missing practices. We just had to lock in, put in the work and we started playing better.”

Even after shutting out Kielburger 28-0 – and getting four touchdowns from Baldwin – in the semifinals, Georgetown still faced an imposing opponent in the final. Over the past decade, Georgetown and Nelson met five times. Nelson won all of them by an average of 28 points. The closest of those meetings was an 18-point Lords’ victory.

And it looked like Nelson would be first to find the end zone in the final at Ron Joyce Stadium in Hamilton. The Burlington school drove the ball close to the Georgetown goal line, but Baldwin forced a fumble and Smith recovered it to keep the game scoreless. Nelson would eventually take the lead, settling for a field goal and a 3-0 lead on the final play of the half.

The Georgetown defence, led by Sammy Echeverri and his 2.5 sacks, forced a Nelson two-and-out to open the second half. Quarterback Gavin Parker led a Georgetown drive down to the Lords’ 10-yard line. Facing third down, he handed the ball to Bennett, who ran it in for a touchdown and Georgetown’s first lead.

The 87s would extend that lead to 14-3 after Todor Sarka forced and recovered a fumble on a kickoff return to set up Baldwin’s second major.

"We had been playing playoff football for a month. If we had lost even one more game, we would have been out of the tier 1 playoffs," Laskis said. “Nelson only gave up 27 points all season. I knew if we could get up on them, they wouldn’t know what to do.”

With the offensive line continuing to create holes, Baldwin’s third TD made it 21-3 with six minutes left.

The 87s then looked to have put the game away with a rarely utilized play. Georgetown lined up Justin Downer behind the punter, making him eligible to recover a punt. Nelson let the kick bounce thinking Georgetown couldn’t touch the ball before a Nelson player, but Downer scooped up the ball and was headed for the end zone when the referee mistakenly whistled the play dead.

Georgetown would get that back on a 66-yard touchdown run by Mark Dunning to put the 87s ahead 28-3.

Nelson, which was averaging 45 points per game heading into the final, would need a touchdown and two-point convert with 30 seconds left just to hit double figures.

“This is a great accomplishment,” Laskis said. “There were a lot of scouts there and a lot of our guys are getting university looks.”

Laskis, who coaches the team with fellow community coaches Aidan Maharaj and Kevin Parker, said they have received great support from staff members Krista Nichol, Dan Estevan, Randy Keast and Jon Newcombe.

The 87s will now face the undefeated Corpus Christi Longhorns, who will host the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference semifinal today (Nov. 13) at 2 p.m.

“They’re rated No. 3 in Ontario,” said Smith, a teammate of Parker on the Team Ontario flag football team, but who is playing his first year of high school football. “It’s going to be a tough battle.”