Patriots stun Irish in championship game
The Saint Paul Patriots senior football team celebrates its 21-7 victory over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association championship game Friday. All photos courtesy of WILLIAM VANDERLAND.
The Saint Paul Patriots senior football team looked dead in the water following a 7-6 loss to Denis Morris Oct. 4 in Niagara Catholic Athletic Association regular season play.
With the loss, the Patriots fell to 0-2 on the season and after the game, Patriots assistant coach Mark Antonelli called out his players for a lack of commitment to attend practice.
What followed since has been a stunning turnaround that included a last-second victory over Blessed Trinity in the semifinals last week and a shocking 21-7 triumph Friday over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the NCAA championship game.
Saint Paul will now carry a six-game winning streak into next Thursday’s Niagara championship game against the A.N. Myer Marauders. The game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Kiwanis Field.
After Friday’s surprising victory, Saint Paul’s players and coaches alike pointed to the DM game as the team’s turning point.
“I think it was a real eye-opener for us, I’m not going to lie. We thought we were going to have an easy game against Denis Morris,” Saint Paul quarterback Devon Schiller-Cleveland said. “When we lost, it kind of let us get our chemistry back and helped us realize that it was real and we needed to play better.”
Saint Paul head coach Rick Oreskovich remembers the aftermath of that loss.
“I think the players sat in the room, locked the door and they wouldn’t let the coaches in,” he said. “They screamed at each other for awhile and got things off their chests.
“From then on, they became a little more focused. They have come to practice and they believe in themselves and believe in each other.”
The Patriots also bought into a team concept and the squad’s leaders stepped up and delivered.
Saint Paul’s Jarrel Pappin, who had two TDs and a great defensive performance in the championship game, admitted that he and others felt like giving up after the loss to Denis Morris.
“I wasn’t feeling it at all I and I felt like quitting because the team wasn’t coming together,” he said. “But then coach O (Oreskovich) called me and told me it would change things if he put me at fullback and said we would start winning games.
“From then on, we started winning games.”
As for what was said by the players in the locked room after the Denis Morris game, Pappin described it as an effort to come together.
“Everyone wanted to quit and we were telling them that it’s not worth it and that we could overcome it and become a better team if we came to practice.”
Not only did they become a better team, they became NCAA champions Friday.
“We knew we were the underdogs, but we thought we could beat Notre Dame,” Schiller-Cleveland said. “We knew we had to work hard for it and that it wouldn’t be an easy game.”
Pappin woke up Friday morning feeling confident and overdue for a championship.
“I have been here for four years and I have always come second,” he said. “And it always feel good to beat Notre Dame.”
In winning Friday, Saint Paul was both good and lucky.
“Things just went our way and things didn’t go Notre Dame’s way,” Oreskovich said. “If we played them again next week, things may change. They are a very strong team, but we got the breaks and took advantage of them.”
Getting a lead was important in Friday’s inclement weather.
“We were able to score a couple of touchdowns and in this kind of weather if you get ahead of a team, there’s a good chance it will stay that way,” Oreskovich said. “Our defence was able to hold them off and played great and offensively, we did what we had to do to win.”
Notre Dame head coach Tim Bisci was stoic as his defending Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association championship squad went down to defeat after a great season. Notre Dame went a perfect 6-0 during the regular season by outscoring its opponents 194-14 and then advanced to the finals with a 30-6 semifinal victory over Saint Michael.
“They made plays and we made mistakes and that’s what it came down to,” he said. “We weren’t ready to play and I think we kind of got used to reading our newspaper clippings and thought that we were better than we were and didn’t have to work at it.”
That attitude showed up as Notre Dame prepared for the championship game.
“Guys missed practices and stuff and it is a lesson learned,” Bisci said. “They got to learn that when you get to this point in time, these moments are special and you can’t just let them pass by.”
And while his players might have taken Saint Paul lightly, Bisci and his staff sure didn’t.
“I knew they were good and they have played well lately too,” he said.
Bisci thought the Patriots could have rolled over when the Irish methodically marched 63 yards on their first possession to grab a 7-0 lead, but Saint Paul was resilient.
“They came back and we started taking penalties,” he said. “And it was 7-0 and we had a pick in our hands for a touchdown and the guy dropped it. We didn’t make that play and all year long we made that play.
“Then we fumbled the ball and we never fumble the ball.”
It was a comedy of errors at the worst possible time for the Irish.
“We did everything in one game that we hadn’t done all year and it was tough to bounce back from it,” Bisci said.
He refused to use the snowy and sloppy conditions as an excuse for the loss.
“At the end of the day, it bothered them too, but they made plays,” he said. “We both had to play in it.”
Bisci is hoping the Patriots can defeat A.N. Myer in next week’s final.
“If they keep playing well like this, I think they have a shot.”
STATS PACK
Mick and Angelo’s/Johnny Rocco’s Player of the Game: Saint Paul’s Jarrel Pappin with two TDS and a great game on defence.
Mick and Angelo’s/Johnny Rocco’s Photographer of the Game: A big, big BPSN thanks to freelance photographer William Vanderland for braving the cold, rain and snow to get some amazing shots. Well done!
For the Saint Paul Patriots: Pappin, two one-yard TD runs and a fumble recovery; Devon Schiller-Cleveland, one-yard QB keeper for TD.
For the Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Jacob Succar, four-yard TD run to cap a drive that he carried the ball eight times for 63 yards; Gerrid Holton, sack; Adam Fyfe, interception; Zack Melnyk, fumble recovery.
Game stats: First downs: Saint Paul 10, Notre Dame 7. Net offence: Saint Paul 129, Notre Dame 119. Turnovers: Saint Paul 4, Notre Dame 5. Penalties: Saint Paul 4 for 15 yards, Notre Dame 10 for 115 yards.
