U19 World Championship: Canada cruises into semi finals

Canada went into the locker room with a 243-6 advantage in total offense led only 10-0. Four penalties, including a holding call that nullified a 96-yard touchdown return on the opening kickoff, a lost fumble and a Sweden defensive stop on fourth down inside the five-yard line have kept the No. 3 team in Europe in the game.

Canada finished with 538 yards in total offense, the second highest single-game total in IFAF U19 Championship history and will now face Japan in the semi final on July 4 for a place in the Gold medal Game. Sweden will take on France on July 3.

"I think we started out slow but we regrouped," said Canada head coach Noel Thorpe. "That’s not how we wanted to start the game. The players realized this is team football and that it takes 11 on the field and 45 on the team to make this thing happen. We regrouped at halftime and I think you saw the results when we came out.

"We’ve got three guys back there who all bring a little something different to the table. We’re going to use them every couple of series to keep the defense off-balance. Once they settled down in the second half and the run game got established everything opened up from there.

International Bowl star Will Finch completed four of five passes for 59 yards in Canada’s opening two series.  But despite a total offense advantage of 140-7 at the end of the opening quarter, Canada found themselves in a scoreless tie entering period two.

Quarterback Hugo Richard, who relieved Finch, led an 80-yard scoring drive that he ended with a three-yard plunge into the end zone to give Canada a 7-0 lead with 11:03 to go in the second quarter.

Canada took over at their own 20 following the miss and three plays later Finch found Doug Corby for a 78-yard scoring strike that stretched the lead to 23-0 after the extra point was blocked. The touchdown pass is the longest in IFAF U19 Championship history.