International Bowl, U18 game: Canada 25, USA 09

I'm not finding a great deal of coverage of last night's Team Canada victory (yet) but I did find the brief recap below from Bleacher Report.

(Canada Head Coach Glenn) Mills and his staff certainly made the most of this chance with a convincing win and showing off some talented players, none more than star running back Jevante Stanley.

Neither offense had a lot of sustained success in this battle, though Canada was able to find the end zone twice in the first three quarters, thanks to touchdowns runs from quarterback Sawyer Buettner and running back Stanley in the second quarter.

Just to put the cherry on top of the sundae for Canada, Stanley scored his second touchdown of the game early in the fourth quarter to give his team a 20-3 lead after the extra point was missed.

After being shut down for three quarters, limited to just a field goal, the United States found the end zone on the next drive, thanks to a Robert Washington touchdown, but celebrating was short-lived as Canada got two points for returning a blocked extra point to the end zone making it a 22-9 game.

From there, Canada basically tried to run out the clock by burning four minutes on its next drive before punting and pinning the U.S. inside its own 30-yard line. Canada would get the ball back around that area after holding the American team to a turnover on downs and hitting a field goal to end the scoring.

Per USA Football on Twitter, Stanley and Trevon Diggs were named the MVPs for their respective teams.

Regardless of the postgame accolades, there was no doubt Canada was the better team on Friday night. The Canadians moved the ball with more efficiency, played smarter and were able to take advantage of their opportunities.

I recall that past coverage of such games often seemed to express a certain amount of surprise that Canada was even remotely competitive against a team of Americans. While the full version of the article does refer to American players far more, at least they acknowledge that the Canadians simply played better overall without making excuses for the American loss. Credit to writer Adam Wells on that level.

I wasn't able to watch much of the game, but in terms of the talent level that Canada was playing, consider this: There was a mention about an American player (I forget his name now) having already received 38 scholarship offers as a high school junior. That may have been an isolated event, but nonetheless.

And of course, if Stanley was able to be so successful, let's assume that the big guys in front of him deserve a big assist.

More to come over the weekend.