Beefeaters get beefed up

By Jonathon Brodie/London Community News / Twitter: @jonathonbrodie Beef Nation is looking to take over the Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL). The London Beefeaters bombarded the St. Leonard Cougars with a mix of an air and ground attack and their defence was able to hold strong in the tensest times to beat their opposition 27-7 at TD Waterhouse Stadium on Saturday (Aug. 18). “They’re one of the best teams in the league, if not the best. They’re always one of the top teams and anytime you can beat a team like that you’ve accomplished something,” said Beefeaters’ head coach John Vouvalidis of a Cougar team now dropping to 0-2 on the season after losing 35-34 last week to the Ottawa Sooners— favourites to lead the Ontario Football Conference. “We honestly feel we can play with any team, but like I said to the guys, ‘We can talk about it, but we got to do it.’” The Beefeaters opened the season, crushing the Brampton Bears on the road 49-9 and Saturday’s win matches London’s win results from last year after going 2-6 in 2011. The quick jump to the season might not be the effect of a standout player, although veteran running back Tyler Woldenberg-Puyda is clearly an all-star and has already rushed more than 300 yards this season. Instead the strength of the Beefeaters might be best described by the team’s adopted new motto of Beef Nation. “It’s just a whole new attitude and a whole new thought process,” said Beefeaters president George Thomson, who made shirts for his team with the slogan plastered on them the night before London’s home opener. “The players are coming to the field everyday knowing that they have the opportunity to win and that they are going to win, now it’s just a matter of executing it on the field and getting the job done.” It’s not just the Beefeaters sidelines taking notice to London’s fast start, added Thomson, as the whole league will have a curious eye towards the team after beating a strong perennial opponent like St. Leonard. “The whole league will now see us as the team we’ve now become and the team that we’re going to be in the future,” he said. “This is just the beginning of turning the corner and I believe we’ve actually turned the corner now and it’s looking like it’s going to be a great a season.” But, it might be a little too early to be making predictions. “We’re turning it, we haven’t turned it,” Thomson said, taking a step a back a bit from his previous comment, but there’s no doubt the future is bright for the Beefeaters with six games remaining on the schedule. “We’re definitely on the right track now. This is a whole new year, this has got a whole new set of circumstances.” The Beefeaters will travel to Nelson Stadium to battle the Burlington Braves on Saturday (Aug. 25) and London’s coaches are already hard at work to keep the good fight moving forward. “We said at the start of the year that we’re going to try and win every game and that’s what we’re here to do,” Vouvalidis said. “It gets harder and as coaches you can celebrate this, but then we got to get into film, get ready for next week. That’s the horrible part of this game, but I’ll tell you, I’m so proud of these guys and the coaches.” [gallery link="file"] Find us on Facebook: London Community News