Wild final day of NRHSAA football: Myer, GFESS, Thorold victorious
The A.N. Myer Marauders senior football team clinched first place in Niagara Region High School Athletic Association play with a 41-7 victory Thursday night over the visiting Grimsby Eagles.
Myer finished the regular season 5-0 while the Eagles ended up with a 3-2 mark.
Leading the way for the Marauders were: Josh Hicks, seven-yard TD pass from Drake Somerville; Owen Twose, 20-yard TD pass from Somerville; Alex Walters, two-yard TD run; Somerville, four-yard TD run; Tyler Goforth, eight-yard TD run; Eugene Park, three-yard TD run; Jack Hunter-French, fumble recovery; and, David Arevelo, sack and forced fumble.
“We tried to get as many players as we could into the game tonight and I have a lot of respect for Grimsby,” Myer head coach Dave Buchanan said. “They are getting better and they have big, strong kids. They gave us a good game.”
The defending NRHSAA champion Marauders will have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
“Home field is always good but it is one game at a time now,” Buchanan said, adding he likes where his team is at.
“I think their minds are good. They know how to work hard and I don’t question any of that. It’s little things like details, looking at film and getting back to it on Monday.”
Buchanan feels his team has changed for the good since the start of the season.
“Five and O wasn’t the goal. It was one game at a time,” he said. “There were so many questions coming in and still some things unanswered but the game against Sir Winston was big for us.”
Myer fell behind 21-3 early in the second quarter against Churchill before reeling off 35 straight points en route to a 38-27 victory.
“We haven’t had to come back very often and it’s an understanding that if we don’t pay attention to detail, anybody in our league can beat us,” Buchanan. “That is the biggest difference. We have to play well in order to win and we can’t play average.”
For Grimsby: Xavier Zatylny threw a six-yard TD pass to Ryden Lapcevich; Treyton Lapcevich had an interception; and, Daniel Myer had a fumble recovery.
“We moved the ball, we might have had 12 first downs and it was a lot better than our last visit here,” said Grimsby head coach Zach Silverthorne, referring to a 72-0 loss about four seasons ago. “It was a lot better but we were missing two receivers and it really showed our lack of depth.”
Grimsby was hurt by a slow start.
“We came out and made a few big mistakes early and we were down 14-0,” Silverthorne said. “They expect to win, they are 4-0 and they win all the time but we are getting better.”
The next time a Silverthorne-coached team ventures to Myer it will be as the West Niagara Wolfpack, an amalgamation of the Beamsville, Grimsby and South Lincoln high schools.
“Even now we have been getting the Beamsville guys over in cabs — there is 13 of them — it’s an issue and they have to leave practice early to catch the late bus,” Silverthorne said. “We are making it work for the sake of making it work but it is a pain.”
Silverthorne can’t wait for the Wolfpack’s first appearance.
“We are going to look sweet like the Houston Oilers with our Carolina blue.”
Some of the Grimsby players were already sporting baby blue helmets.
“We had to start buying some of the gear because you can’t buy 80 helmets in one year,” Silverthorne said.
Gryphons 37 Cougars 14
The hard luck and injury-plagued Greater Fort Erie Gryphons improved to 1-4 on the season with a 37-14 victory over the visiting Centennial Cougars (2-3) Thursday night.
“We finally had things go our way. The defence got us two turnovers and a safety which was huge. The offence executed well and we got our kicker back from injury,” GFESS head coach Dave Sauer said. “We should get three players back from injury next week and we will get ready for a playoff run. It was a great win for the boys and it was nice to get the win considering the tough season we have had.”
Leading the way for the Gryphons were: Kaiden Craft with three rushing TDs and a receiving TD on pass from Drew Beam; Kody Macrae with a rushing major; Damian Stehling with three converts and two rouges; and, Taefi Riediger with a safety and an interception.
For Centennial: Ethan Robertson threw for 60 yards and a touchdown; Jon Hooker ran for 65 yards; strong line play was contributed by Noble Arterberry and Ty Dawn; and, solid defence was provided by Brad McHoul, Nico D’Amelio and Presley Kalybaba.
“Lots of penalties and miscues kneecapped us last night,” Centennial head coach Brad Barter said.
Golden Eagles 29 Saints 22 (Double OT)
The Thorold Golden Eagles ended the regular season with a 1-4 record Thursday following a 29-22 double-overtime victory against the visiting St. Catharines Collegiate Saints.
Leading the way for Thorold were: Mark Suntz with a game-winning 20-yard TD pass to Lucas Friesen; Friesen with TD runs of six and three yards; Aiden Clarke with a three-yard TD run; Gabe Badaoui with three converts and a 35-yard reception; Eric Bussi with five catches for 45 yards; Suntz with a fumble recovery; and, Jayden Thurbide with two tackles for losses.
“It was a big win for the program,” Thorold head coach Duane Kemp said. “The young kids played tough and team battled throughout. Hard work is paying off but miscues still hurt. Collegiate battled hard and it was a fun game to be a part of.”
Kemp gave a big shout out to city workers.
“The City of Thorold did an amazing job to get the field ready for today (Thursday). We were unable to practice on the field on Monday and Tuesday.”
For Collegiate: QB Cole Adshead, threw four completions for 35 yards; Ben Carey had 10 carries for 88 yards and a TD; Cam Scott had seven carries for 65 yards and TD; Conner Hammond had an eight-yard TD reception and two-point convert; rookie wide receiver Isaiah Taylor had a two-point convert reception; strong performances were turned in by rookie lineman Patrick Burse (two tackles including one for loss) and Barry Neuman (two rushed passes and two tackles, including one for a loss); rookie Jacob Gough had his fourth interception in the past four games; and, Connor Hammond and Ben Carey both had strong performances defensively at halfback and linebacker.
“St. Catharines Collegiate played its best game in many years today (Thursday), both offensively and defensively,” coach Lori White said. “The team came out hot and scored a touchdown on its opening drive.”
Connor Weins forced a turnover on the three-yard line with less than a minute left to help set up the tie and Skylar Thompson had an interception in overtime.
“Although the Saints came up short in overtime, they definitely played their hearts out and left it all on the field,” White said. “It was a great overall performance by everyone and the coaches are very proud.”
Final standings: Myer 5-0; Churchill 4-1; Eden 4-1; Westlane 3-2; Grimsby 3-2; Simcoe 2-3; Centennial 2-3; GFESS 1-4; Thorold 1-4; Collegiate 0-5.
Playoff format: The top four teams in the league will meet in the Tier 1 finals. The fifth- and sixth-place teams will get bye into the Tier 2 semifinals and teams six through 10 will meet in the Tier 2 quarter-finals. SEE SCHEDULE BELOW.
Tiebreakers: The NRHSAA tie breakers in descending order are: head to head records between tied teams; record against teams higher in the standings; record against teams lower in the standings; points given up in the first half and if more than two teams are tied then cumulative first-half points head to head to head etc. among the tied teams; points given up in the first half against teams higher in the standings; points given up in the first half against teams lower in the standings; and, last but not least, a coin flip.
