Reds on the rise
The Denis Morris Reds fell 28-7 to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in NCAA senior football action Thursday afternoon. Photos by Mackenzie Cimek.
Things are looking up for the Denis Morris Reds senior football team.
Although the team fell 28-7 to the visiting Notre Dame Fighting Irish Thursday afternoon in Niagara Catholic Athletic Association play, the squad was competitive and didn’t get Thirty-Fived (clock starts running straight time if one team is ahead by 35 points after the half).
“We have got some players here. It is taking some time to get the right pieces in the right places but the momentum is building every single day,” head coach Steve Roach said of his 1-3 squad. “The commitment is there from all our players and every play they give it their all. They don’t stop their feet, they play hard and they try their hardest.”
The effort was on full display against the defending champion and unbeaten Irish.
“We made them fight until the end and we made it hard on them to score. That’s a positive for us,” he said.
Roach gives all the credit to the players.
“They want it, they want to get better and they are working their hardest to do their best.”
The Reds have plenty of commitment this season.
“We have 40 at practice every day and we have a full group of guys. It is making sure we have enough players ready for the game and it’s taking time.”
The next step in the progression of the program is to get a running game going so the Reds have both a passing and a running game.
“Once we get that, we will be tough to stop next year.”
Roach feels the biggest step the squad has taken this year is putting forth the effort and building camaraderie.
He is in his first year as head coach at Denis Morris. He has been an assistant coach at Saint Michael for five seasons, Lakeshore Catholic for three seasons, Denis Morris for five seasons before that and he started at Blessed Trinity in 2008 when the junior team qualified for the Metro Bowl.
“I am from Thorold so this is like my home,” he said.
His coaching style is straight forward.
“It’s getting the most out of the players , getting the pieces in the right places, getting their energy up and making them compete their hardest.”
The Reds’ lone touchdown came on an 11-yard pass to Luca Marcone from Lincoln Marsh-Hall. Cole Kelly had two big catches on the scoring drive.
Scoring touchdowns for Notre Dame (4-0) were: Justin Savoie on runs of one and 11 yards; Nick Longo on a 42-yard run; and, Dylan Correia with a 17-yard pick 6.
Thursday’s game was the first since Longo replaced Ben Tsnaoff at quarterback. Tsnaoff sustained a non-contact injury and Irish head coach Tim Bisci is not sure when he will return to action.
“Nick’s the guy right now and he is the next guy up. On Grade 8 night about five years ago, I told him when he walked into our weight room that he was the heir apparent and now he has to step up.”
Bisci is confident the 12B student can do just that.
“He is so athletic and if he can pick up the whole offensive concept his athleticism will take him as far as we can get him,” he said. “He came into this with two days practice and we will get him some reps tomorrow and we have four days to get ready for Blessed Trinity.”
Tsnaoff isn’t the only injury.
“We are down a couple or three starters and the mentality has to be next guy up. We have athletes and we have to put the right athletes in the right spots and hope for the best.”
Bisci and the Irish are rolling with the punches.
“You have to be good to win but you have to be lucky and luck probably plays even more into it. Last year if we would have lost a couple of guys, where would we have been? This year we lost some guys and where are we? We have to figure that out.”
GATORS GET FORFEIT
The Lakeshore Gators won by forfeit over the Holy Cross Raiders Thursday.
“Regrettably we had to end the football season. We do not have the number of players to safely take the field,” Holy Cross phys-ed head Jim Craig said.
Editor’s note: Special thank you to Notre Dame student Mackenzie Cimek for her excellent action photos used in this story. BPSN staffer may have forgotten to put memory card in his camera.
