July 25, 2007

The Oakville Longhorns have shown they can still produce offensively without their go-to receiver.

Now, as the postseason nears, the 'Horns hope to prove they can compete with the Northern Football Conference's elite.

The Longhorns, winners of four straight games and virtually assured of a home game in the first round of the playoffs, will close out the regular season Sunday with a visit to the league-leading Tri-City Outlaws (6-1).

Oakville head coach Barry Emo concedes his 5-2 squad has little to gain in the contest as far as playoff seeding goes, but says there is still plenty of incentive to make a quality showing this weekend.

"If you look at stats and records, us winning this game doesn't really do much for us," said Emo, noting the fourth-place Longhorns would lose tiebreakers with two of the three teams currently ahead of them in the standings. "That being said, there are things we want to get accomplished in this game. It's certainly a good test for our young kids to go out there and shine against one of the best teams in the NFC."

Those lesser lights have indeed shone in recent action. Longhorns receiver Vaughan Swart, the league leader in touchdown receptions, has missed the past two games in order to attend a wedding in Europe, Emo said, and will also miss Sunday's game against the Outlaws.

The team's other receivers have picked up the slack in Swart's absence. Nate Smith made four grabs for 83 yards and a touchdown in Oakville's 17-7 win over the Sarnia Imperials last weekend, while Will Mayhew followed up a 136-yard effort two weeks ago with another 73 receiving yards against Sarnia. Rick Rodrigues (64 yards), Chad Kennedy (34), Kyle Kneller and Tom Basous also caught passes versus the Imperials.

"Statistically, our passing game has not dropped off a great deal yardage-wise," said Emo, adding that quarterback-turned-receiver Michael Hyatt has also contributed. "All of these guys have had an opportunity to showcase their abilities. Instead of being in the shadow of Swart, they've been in the limelight."

Rodrigues had the other Longhorns touchdown Saturday at Bronte Athletic Field. Dana Segin booted a tie-breaking field goal in the third quarter, giving Oakville a 10-7 lead, and added two converts. Tom Denison completed 18 of 33 passes for 282 yards.

Defensively, the Longhorns continued their steady play, limiting Sarnia to 51 yards on the ground and 80 through the air. Wayne Sliwinski (five), Marco Pereira (3.5) and Liston Bates (three) were the leading Oakville tacklers, and Dion Clarke picked off a pass.

"The play of our defence has been very consistent," Emo said. "Our defences in other years have probably had more big plays, with touchdowns and points scored and fumble recoveries, but this year there's more of a team concept in the defence. We don't have one or two players statistically leading the way, but as a unit we're one of the top-ranked defences in the league."

Oakville might have prevailed in more convincing fashion were it not for a long punt return by Dan Seymour being called back by penalty, as was a touchdown reception. The Longhorns also dropped three would-be majors in the Sarnia end zone.

Though its first-round opponent has yet to be determined, Oakville will almost certainly open the playoffs Aug. 4 at Bronte Athletic Field.

The North Bay Bulldogs (4-3) have a mathematical opportunity to surpass the Longhorns in the standings this weekend, but would need a rout of the 6-1 Oshawa Hawkeyes and a lopsided Longhorns loss in order to do so.