Beefeaters pushing points

By Jonathon Brodie/London Community News / Twitter: @jonathonbrodie The London Beefeaters can credit more than just their kicker/punter Zack Medeiros for the their 5-1 record in the Ontario Football Conference (OFC), but the stats do attribute the 21-year-old as contributing one-third of the team’s points. On Friday night (Sept. 14) at TD Waterhouse Stadium, Medeiros added to his conference leading 51-point tally going into the game against the basement dwelling Twin City Predators by picking up 13 points on three field goals and four extra points after touchdowns. “That’s where my success comes, off the offence and if we stall I just do my job and kick the field goal,” Medeiros said, after a 37-8 win over the Predators. Medeiros has helped his team by putting up 64 points for the Beefeaters in six games; the Predators have only scored 54 points as a team in as many matchups. A kicker/punter can pick up some quick and easy points in Canadian football rules, but no other player in Medeiros’ position is in the top five for point getting — and no Beefeater either. The London-native missed a 52-yard field goal in the third quarter, not because it was too short but just wide. If Medeiros would have hit the long range kick, it would still be one-yard shy from his record field goal made this season when he nailed a 53-yarder against the Brampton Bears in the Beefeaters first game of the season where the ball sailed out of the back of the end zone. He’s sure he can make one from even deeper. “It’s stiff out here today, if the temperature was like Brampton, honestly I would say 60 to 65 would be my range,” Medeiros said. For that matter, his coach is sure he can make a field goal from Beefeaters’ territory as well. “There’s a lot of confidence that we can get out of trouble no matter what we do,” said Beefeater’s bench boss John Vouvalidis. “I’ll look at him and say, ‘How do you feel?’ If he says he’s good from 60-something, we’ll go for it.” This is the second year Medeiros has played for the Beefeaters, taking the last two seasons off from the team to attend the University of Montreal, but decided to come back to London after the rise of Quebec tuition. In his rookie season with the Beefeaters he was selected as an OFC All-Star punter. Next year, he’s hoping to suit up for the purple and white of the Western Mustangs, but if he can keep his kick the sky could be the limit for him. “To me, he could play professional. He’s that good to me,” Vouvalidis said, admitting he didn’t know much about his kicker/punter before the season. “I certainly do now.” Most likely every coach in the OFC knows who is now too and if they don’t, they will when he puts up his average 10-points a game. The Beefeaters will travel to Windsor to play the Windsor AKO Fratmen next Saturday (Sept. 22), before they wrap up their season at home against the Hamilton Hurricanes Sept. 28. [gallery link="file"] Find us on Facebook: London Community News