Gators on the rebound
Slowly but surely, the Lakeshore Catholic Gators are rebuilding their football program.
The school has a history of success on the gridiron, but last season didn’t even have enough players to field a senior team and only played at the junior level.
This year, the Gators had hoped to have both a junior and senior program, but had to settle for a varsity squad of about 40 players.
“Coming right from the top down, we’re developing a program here,” Lakeshore coach Bernie Tessier said Thursday afternoon as the Gators wrapped up their season with a 36-6 loss to the Blessed Trinity Thunder in Niagara Catholic Athletic Association action.
“We’re trying to build our way back. Right from the top with the administration at our school, to the coaching staff, right down to our captains and players, we’re coming together.”
The Gators finished with an 0-6 record but that isn’t what Tessier and his staff are concentrating on now.
“There’s a lot of camaraderie,” he said. “Even though it was a tough season as far as wins and losses, these guys continued to fight right to the end.”
Tessier said his squad didn’t get the least bit intimated this season despite some lopsided outcomes.
“We don’t really talk about that,” he said. “On any give day — it’s a cliche — but anybody can beat anybody. You never come into a game thinking you’re outmatched. You come out and say every play is important. You win the play, it’s good. You lose the play, you get back up and get to the next one.”
Tessier feels patience is key.
“We’ve made a commitment. This is a long-term plan. We did a lot of things this year with our younger players where they got a lot better. The majority of kids were in Grade 9 last year. That group is mostly kids on the field today, all Grade 10s. We’re going to really work with that group and bring them along.
“Off-season is coming up and we plan on doing a lot of work to build their confidence heading into next season.”
Tessier would love to field both a senior and junior team next year.
“We’ve got the coaching staff and the facilities and the equipment to do it. We just need the numbers.”
The Thunder wrapped up the regular season with a 5-1 record and now take on the undefeated Notre Dame Fighting Irish next Thursday at 7 p.m. at Saint Paul for the NCAA championship.
“We’re excited,” BT assistant coach Mark Antonelli said. “I already told them we need everybody at practice Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to be successful.
“We know we can beat Notre Dame. We know we can do it, we think we can do it. They’re a tough team. They’re the second best team in the province right now but we’re not too shabby ourselves. We as a group believe we can do it and will do our best to do it.”
The Irish topped the Thunder 29-7 in their only meeting this season.
The Thunder raced out to a 30-6 lead at the half en route to the victory.
“We tried to get guys in different positions to try different things,” Antonelli said. “That’s what it came down to. We took this potentially as a practice, a pre-season practice. Get reps and get guys doing different things. We had guys today scoring touchdowns that have played football for 12 years and never scored a touchdown.”
STATS PACK
Thunder 36 Gators 6
For the Blessed Trinity Thunder: Hayden Burt, touchdown reception from Johnny Breen; Christian Vandenburgh, Arya Pradha touchdowns; Nick Park two-point convert, two single converts; Wyatt Bezuyen two interceptions, Justin Maniaci one interception; Lakeshore conceded a safety.
For the Lakeshore Catholic Gators: Max Annunziate touchdown reception from Nick Jubenviller, interception.
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