End of the line for Varsity Spears
At the conclusion of the Niagara Varsity Spears’ season-ending 28-14 loss to the visiting Hamilton Junior Ti-Cats Saturday night, the squad honoured its graduating players.
The players feted were among a Who’s Who of the best players on their high school teams with the exception of one.
As a former Jean Vanier student, Chris Falvo never played a down of high school football.
“All my football was here,” the 19-year-old Welland resident said. “It was definitely tough because you have an extra-long off-season, but I tried to replace it by going to the gym and working out.
“I did end up trying to play for other schools but it just didn’t work out with the different school boards.”
It certainly did work out for the offensive lineman playing for the Spears.
“I found all my fun playing here and I love it here,” he said. “This is my football.”
Falvo suited up for the Spears the past four or five years, starting out with the bantam squad. He loved every minute of his Spears existence.
“It’s the coaching,” he said. “We have a bunch of coaches here that make you feel like a family, they coach you the right way and everyone is experienced. You learn from the best here.”
The 6-foot-5, 335-pounder loves the sport as well.
“It brings a bunch of guys that you don’t know together and it transforms you into a family of men.”
Falvo will be missed by Niagara.
“He is a big boy and he has a lot of desire if he can get everything going,” Spears head coach Brian Duguay said. “He has potential that’s high.”
Falvo is not certain if he is done with football. He may pursue it at the next level in the Canadian Junior Football League.
“I haven’t made a full decision about that yet but I am probably going to be looking into it,” he said.
Other graduating seniors honoured Saturday were Josh Lisi, Cole Parkin, Ryan James, Chase Bowden, Mak Burger, Christian Kuriata, Darcy MacIsaac, William Bonner and Robbie Prior.
Niagara’s season ended with the loss to Hamilton, but Duguay agreed there were a number of earlier games that resulted in the Spears’ downfall.
“We lost a game against Essex by three, a game against Burlington by three and then an overtime loss against Durham that should have been a win,” he said. “We talked all year about consistency and playing right from the very beginning of the game.”
That penchant for slow starts happened again versus Hamilton.
“We gave up 28 points in the first half today and it’s hard to come back, but these guys fought.”
Niagara will lose several key players to graduation, but Duguay feels other Spears are ready to step up and take their places.
“There’s a lot of big pieces to the puzzle but we have a lot of young guys who are with us and are ready,” he said. “We will have a good year again next year.”
This year’s squad was loaded with youth.
“We gave up a lot of points on offence and defence because we are young,” Duguay said. “Even though we had a big graduating class, there’s still 28 first-year guys.
“They needed to learn and you just can’t walk out on the field and play.”
One thing that is clear at the end of another Spears season is how difficult it is to win in the OPFL, especially in the West Division which includes Niagara, Essex, London, Cambridge and Hamilton.
“We’re leaving with a winning record and I don’t mean this in a bad way but the other division two teams are coming in (to the playoffs) with a losing record,” Duguay said. “It’s hard and a battle the entire time.”
STATS PACK
Junior Ti-Cats 28 Spears 14
BPSN Niagara’s Stars of the Game: Chase Bowden on offence, Christian Kuriata on defence and Josh Lisi on special teams.
For the Niagara Spears: 37-yard TD pass Ethan Reid to Chase Bowden; one-yard TD pass from Reid to John Serrano; sacks by Kuriata, Zach Melnyk and Andrew Dailey; Bowden, 15 carries for 136 yards; Kuriata, five solo tackles and five assisted tackles; Reid, 4-6 passing for 46 yards; Sonny Wibowo, three solo tackles; and, Riley Lyons, two solo tackles and three assisted tackles.
For the Hamilton Junior Ti-Cats: a pair of one-yard TD runs by Kyle Nalepa; two interceptions by DeEmetrius Masuka, including one returned 50 yards for a TD: 21-yard TD pass from Anthony Pimentel to Jeremy Hicks; two-point convert on run by Dylan Bernardi; interception and sack by Chinedu Ezeonwurie; sack by Kyle Samson; interception by Nana Yaw Serbeh.
Game stats: First downs: Niagara 11, Hamilton 9. Net offence: Niagara 230, Hamilton 225. Turnovers: Niagara 6, Hamilton 2. Scoring by quarters: Niagara 0-0-2-12=14, Hamilton 7-21-0-0=28.
