DJ Kennington is always looking forward to racing at his home track. There is no doubt the #17 car will be in the hunt when NASCAR Canada wraps up its season Saturday at Delaware Speedway. “A lot of family, friends and people you don’t get to see all year are going to be there to cheer us on, and hopefully we can turn things around,” said Kennington. “It’s been an up and down season for us. It’s not the one that we wanted by any means, but hopefully we can end up strong here. And I always love going to Delaware”. Sitting fourth in the points standings, Kennington has had just one top-five finish, and 10 more top 10’s. “Every race, it seems like it’s been something different,” he added. “We’ve had speed. We’ve had good equipment, good cars, just little things that I’ve never seen go wrong before have gone wrong this year. You can’t really get upset about it, it’s just racing,” said Kennington. This past weekend he took the risk of running the entire race without a fuel stop at Canadian Motorsports Park. The race went to overtime, and his fuel ran one lap short. The gamble for a top-three finish didn’t work out. “I hate it because I’m so competitive that it drives me nuts,” said Kennington. “We want to win races, so hopefully we can get out there for Castrol and all of our family and friends this weekend at Delaware”. Kennington says Castrol has signed a three-year deal to remain his major sponsor and he will be making a big announcement regarding the future of his race team this weekend”. WESTERN MUSTANGS PREPARE FOR WINDSOR LANCERS The Western Mustangs crushed York 78-7 in their season opener, but will face a much stiffer test in their second game. The Mustangs will travel to Windsor to face the Lancers who beat Laurier last weekend. “We had a great first game but now it doesn’t matter anymore,” said quarterback Jerome Rancourt who had five touchdowns in the season opener. “We were going on to the next one playing Windsor and on Saturday, and it’s going to be a good one to just come off a big win against Laurier. They’re more physical (than York) and they’re very aggressive on defense”. Western is a perfect 10-0 in their last ten meetings with Windsor dating back to 2016. They won a tight 15-6 defensive battle last October. For Mustangs rookie captain Cyrus McGarrell, he’s excited to head back to his hometown this weekend. “I’m excited to see all the guys again and play against them,” said the transfer from Northern Illinois in the NCAA. “I’ve always grew up watching the Windsor Lancers, so playing against them is going to be a definitely a great experience.” He was excited to step on the field in week one, and was surprised by the massive crowd. “The atmosphere is crazy,” said McGarrell. “About 30-45 minutes outside of kick off, I didn’t think there was many people going to be here. But when kickoff happened, all the fans and all the students came out. So great atmosphere.” KNIGHTS TO WRAP UP PRESEASON VS STING The Knights are ready to wrap up their preseason with a home game and home game with the Sarnia Sting starting Thursday at Canada Life Place. “I’m really excited to see how the team’s going to do and just get the show on the road,” said Knights forward Jaxon Cover. “I can’t wait for the first game of the season”. That first game will be Friday, Sept. 18 against the Windsor Spitfires. The Knights have just returned from a two-game series out west against the Victoria Royals in British Columbia. After getting whipped 7-1 in the first game, they bounced back with a 5-3 win in game two. “We need to come out right at the opening whistle and that was the key to the second game that we played,” said Cover. “Started off really well and just kept building off that. The first game, we didn’t start off so hot and a long plane ride probably didn’t help at all. I’d say the second game is more of who we are.” Assistant coach Dylan Hunter said they made adjustments after the first game and changed up a few of their systems. “We wanted to see how they would adjust to that and they did a good job kind of learning on the fly stuff you’re going to have to do throughout the year,” said Hunter. “It was a good little test point for all our young guys”. Hunter said the players had a chance to see the city on some down time and credited the Royals for “taking good care of us”. HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL TO PLAY EXHIBTION GAMES FRIDAY High school classes may have started this week, but football teams have already been hard in training for a few weeks now. Among them is the South Lions who will be one of six teams playing in Friday’s London Beefeaters Classic at Citywide Field. The Lions – ranked 25 in the Ontario Coaches Poll to start the season will face St. Thomas Aquinas in the exhibition game. “I’m so hyped and I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited,” said Lions safety Ben Ledger. “I think it’s going to be a good game because STA is a decent team. We’ve got some good talent here and we have a lot to prove so I’m excited.” Like most teams, the weather has interrupted some of their practice sessions. Head Coach Mike Stenning says they have most of their offensive and defensive systems in place, but at practice Tuesday they were catching up on special teams. “I think this year we are going to come out on top because of all the work this team puts in,” said Xavier Kiglore, Lions edge rusher. “The coaches make us put in that work and they prepare us to be the best we can be on and off the field.” The Lions expect to have talent on both sides of the ball but offensively could be dangerous. “We’ve got some underdogs here and they may not be names yet but they’ll come up,” said Izaiah Moxley, Lions running back. “I’ve been waiting all summer for this game. Summer football is fun, but high school football is where it’s at.” Catholic Central is the number one ranking teamed in Ontario in the top-25 coaches poll after back to back OFSAA Bowl titles. St. Andre Bessette is ranked number 22.
