Marauders are champions once again

The A.N. Myer football juggernaut just keeps rolling along.

The senior football team’s latest championship came on a blustery November Friday afternoon when it blew away the title aspirations of the Centennial Cougars 50-10 in the Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Tier 1 final.

The Marauders have now outscored its Niagara opposition 316-20 in seven games this team while improving to 43-0 in NRHSAA play since the NRHSAA and the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association split into two associations in 2017. Prior to that, the Tre Ford led Marauders had won three straight Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations’ bowl games. Myer had not lost a league game since late in the 2014 season.

Head coach Dave Buchanan never tires of winning a NRHSAA championship even though he and none of his players wanted anything to do with touching the dented, battered but historic championship trophy.

“It is always important to us. I just said to them today that the score makes it seem like it was easy but the reason why we are having success is the buy-in into the program,” he said. “We have talented kids but they worked hard in the off-season, there’s a commitment and it shows.”

Myer wasn’t really tested this season by NRHSAA opponents and the players had to push each other internally in practice to take their game to the next level. Friday’s game suggested they are getting to where they need to be.

“Slowly and surely you can see that we are getting there and we are working towards improving every week. It seems like the last two or three weeks we’ve done a little bit better job,” Buchanan said.

Because Centennial had players on its roster from E.L. Crossley and Eastdale, the Cougars weren’t eligible to move on to the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association semifinals but Buchanan never broadcast that fact to his players.

“That is a dangerous thing to go into a game and think if we don’t win we still go. By no means do we ever want to have that mindset. A couple of them might have figured it out but they didn’t play like that.”

The Marauders led 29-3 early in the second quarter and the final, early nail in the coffin came when D’Angelo Holness snuffed out a promising Centennial drive by stripping the ball and running it back 65 yards for a major.

“That seemed like the dagger. They were doing well and gaining some momentum and he took it to the house. It was awesome,” Buchanan said.

The touchdown was the first of Holness’ career.

“It felt great,” he said. I was like ‘Damn, I really just did that. Am I dreaming? ’ ”

Holness had a great all-around game Friday and that’s what the Myer coaching staff has come to expect from the 12B player, who plays Will linebacker, defensive end and sometimes safety for the Marauders.

“He has had a great year. His work ethic is incredible, he has matured and he has become a leader on the team,” Buchanan said. “And he is extremely skilled. He has speed, he has strength and he is committed. He never misses a practice and he has come a long way.”

The 18-year-old is in his third year with the senior team and agrees he has taken great strides as a player.

“When I started, I didn’t really have much football knowledge. I would tackle the quarterback way after he threw the ball and I would get flags on every play. But I always had that dog in me. I had my speed and my strength and over the years I went to camps at universities, I met different coaches and they showed me how to use my strength and my speed to my advantage. Better technique made me more refined and a better player.”

The 6-foot-3, 205 pounder has enjoyed a breakout season with Myer.

“My pass rush and my run stop have gotten a lot better. All the techniques I learned in the off-season have really helped me with that,” he said. “Before that, I would get completely dominated and last year I got dominated a lot. This off-season, I worked hard in the gym and I worked hard on my technique and I told myself I wasn’t going to get dominated again this year. And so far, I haven’t.”

Holness has garnered interest this season from university scouts but he is heading to St. Clair College in Windsor to study business and finance. As luck would have it, St. Clair has a football program and he would love to play there.

“I am just waiting for my film to get finished for this season. I am going to send it their way and hopefully they take an interest in me.”

The Centennial coaching staff went into the final thinking the Cougars could give Myer a game but what was left unsaid was that it would take a perfect game to make that a reality. It didn’t happen, starting with a fumble on their first touch and four more turnovers in the first half that saw the Cougars trailing 43-3 at the break.

“Some things just didn’t go our way and the score wasn’t indicative of how they played,” Centennial head coach Brad Barter said. “I am really proud of everybody on that sideline. They did a really good job.”

The loss didn’t dampen what was a resurgent season for the Cougars, who won the Tier 2 final last year after getting smacked around by Tier 1 opponents.

“I have to give props to all the outside coaches who come in. They are willing to put the time in with the individual players and they did a great job prepping them for the season,” he said. “And that is not to slight the immense talents of the athletes we have on that sideline. This year, we had a whole bunch of Grade 11s from last year who came back for 12. We are going to be in tough next year but we have a strong core of Grade 9s and 10s. It might be an off year for us next year but watch for us. We will be back.”

Centennial started early this year to turn their season around, practising three times a week in August so they could hit the ground running once school started.

“We are getting more support from the school, we are getting more support from the community and everything is going in the right direction,” Barter said. “Going from last year where we only scored six points (against Tier 1 opponents) to this year coming into the Tier 1 championship and putting up 10 against a top 10 provincially ranked team is incredible. I am really proud of how things have come together.”

STATS PACK

Marauders 50 Cougars 10

Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Myer quarterback Thomas Somerville with three TD passes and a rushing major.

For the A.N. Myer Marauders: 17-yard TD run by Somerville; two-point convert on pass from Somerville to Dante D’Amario; two 22-yard TD passes from Somerville to Travis Boland; three-yard TD run by Mitch Casucci; 37-yard TD pass from Somerville to Evan Goforth; strip and 65-yard return for touchdown by D’Angelo Holness; 12-yard TD pass from Noah Walters to Clayton Crawford; fumble recovery by Cade Ivanchuck; interceptions by Ben Maglicic and Boland; sack by Holness.

For the Centennial Cougars: four-yard TD run by Mahkai McPhee; 30-yard field goal by Rylan Butler; fumble recovery by Ryan Leduc; sack by Adam Dawson.

Game stats: First downs: Myer 12, Centennial 10. Net offensive yards: Myer 287, Centennial 168. Turnovers: 2 , Centennial 5. Penalties: Myer 2 for 15 yards, Centennial 3 for 25 yards.

Up next: Myer advances to the SOSSA semifinals Nov. 15 at Notre Dame.