Noble effort powers Cougars

Centennial’s Noble Arteberry got to show another side of his football skills Friday afternoon in the Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Tier 2 football quarter-finals against the visiting St. Catharines Collegiate Saints.

“Noble has played for us for pretty much his entire high school career and this is the first game he scored a touchdown in the 12 years he has played,” Centennial head coach Brad Barter said. “He delivered for us today and I can tell you I would rather tackle a car than Noble.”

The 5-foot-11, 275-pounder scored not one but three rushing majors to power the Cougars to a 38-0 victory over the Saints.

He also had another great game on the line.

“He has trained really hard over the years that I have had him on the team,” Barter said. “He has gotten himself in really good shape, he works hard when he is out there and it finally showed up on the scoreboard for him.”

The 18-year-old Welland resident was thrilled with his touchdown hat trick.

“It felt amazing,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to run the ball since I was six years old when I first started out. I am kind of upset I didn’t get to drop my shoulders into anyone but it  was all good.”

The 12B student actually fumbled his second run into the end zone but was able to fall on it for the score. One of the coaches could be heard yelling from the sidelines that it would be the last carry he would get.

“I was sad but I just had to play it off like I did it for style points,” he said, with a laugh. “It’s all good and I got another one. I am so happy about that.”

It was nice for Arteberry to get a little notoriety because linemen rarely get any glory.

“I feel I am a huge contributing factor to our team,” he said. “Obviously this is a team sport and it is meant for everyone, but our team needs a leader and I feel that I can deliver in that role.”

He is drawing motivation for this season from Centennial’s controversial loss to Grimsby in the 2019 Tier 2 final.

“There is a still a bitter taste in my mouth and I am hoping we can get to the championship game and I can end my 12B season with a championship.”

Arteberry has caught the attention of opposing coaches and one even commented how he dominated the game.

He would love to play football at the next level but he has yet to catch the eye of any university scouts.

“I am trying to get some tape together and send it out to universities,” he said. “At the end of the season, I am going to start reaching out to universities.”

He loves the contact in football.

“It makes me feel like me.”

Friday’s victory was a nice bounce back performance for the Cougars, who were drubbed 37-14 last week by Greater Fort Erie in the final game of the regular season.

“It was a good game. We had everybody out to practice this week after last week when we had poor practice numbers and it showed on the scoreboard in the last game,” Barter said. “This week, everybody was out and we practised and worked pretty hard.”

It was good lesson for the the Cougars to learn in the regular season rather than the playoffs when it is lose or go home.

“It lights a little bit of a fire and when everybody’s backs are against the wall, our guys fought back, they took it personally and never again,” Barter said. “They are never going to feel that way again.”

He likes how his team is looking heading into the semifinals.

“We are happy where we are at and we are going to have a tough game no matter who we play next. There’s a reason why they got a bye. “They’re good.”

Collegiate was in tough against the Cougars, but the Saints played hard until the final whistle. Collegiate head coach Nathan Greene was happy with a season that included coming within a double overtime loss of the team’s first regular season victory.

“We were extremely happy that we were on the field playing and participating and the team attitude was great,” he said. “We have turned a corner as far as enthusiasm and commitment to the team. That is everything that we want for next year.”

Those two developments are important for Collegiate football moving forward.

“The players are playing for each other and the football family motto and they get that,” Greene said. “There are no more individuals on our team who are playing selfishly and for their own reasons. Those are life skills that they will carry with them forever and that is what we are trying to build while learning this great game of football.”

STATS PACK

Cougars 38 Saints 0

Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Centennial’s Noble Arteberry with TD runs of three, one and three yards and a strong game on the line.

For the Centennial Cougars: Arteberry, three TDs; 30-yard TD pass from Robbie Pereira to Ethan Krick; 26-yard TD pass from Pereira to Ethan Robertson; Pereira, two two-point converts on runs; Presley Kalybaba, interception; Aiden McIntosh, fumble recovery; Dylan Parker, sack.

For the St. Catharines Collegiate Saints: Eli Irving, fumble recovery.

Game stats: Net offence: Centennial 362, SCC -32. First downs: Centennial 14, SCC 0. Turnovers: Centennial 1, SCC 4. Penalties: Centennial 4 for 30 yards, SCC 2 for 0 yards.

Up next: Centennial advances to the Tier 2 semifinals..

Gryphons 57 Golden Eagles 0

The Greater Fort Erie Gryphons advanced to the NRHSAA Tier 2 semifinals with a 57-0 victory over the visiting Thorold Golden Eagles Thursday night.

“It was a miserable game considering the weather. We executed well tonight and spread the ball around in the running game,” GFESS head coach Dave Sauer said. “The O line was outstanding today and the defence played well. We were able to get some turnovers and make some stops. We are finally getting healthy and it has given us a big boost in morale.”

Scoring for the Gryphons were: Kaiden Craft with three rushing majors; Kody Macrae with two TDs on the ground; Drew Beam, Michael Dion and Evan Clements with single rushing TDs; and, Damian Stehling with eight converts and a kickoff rouge.

For Thorold: Mark Suntz was 6-11 for 56 yards passing, one interception and three carries for 31 yards; Eric Bussi had four catches for 40 yards; and, Aiden Clarke had eight  carries for 30 yards.

Tier 2 team Thorold was in tough against Tier 1 GFESS.

“It  rain and snowed all game which limited us along with our inexperience,” Thorold head coach Duane Kemp said. “We lacked size to match up with GFESS.”

Thorold went 1-4 in the regular season.