Gryphons aim to get over hump
For the past few seasons, the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons have been the Toronto Maple Leafs of the Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Tier 1 senior football league.
The team has enjoyed plenty of success in the regular season, earning home-field advantage in the semifinals before falling to a lower-seeded team.
The Gryphons are up their usual standards in the regular season — they improved to 2-0 Thursday with a 22-14 road win over the West Niagara Wolfpack — and now it is time for the squad to flip the narrative come playoff time.
“We have a lot of good, experienced guys coming back and I mentioned to you two years ago that this team wasn’t ready for playoff football,” GFESS head coach Dave Sauer said. “We have been working on that and we just have to get over that hump. We were in tight games last year that we didn’t finish and now these guys want to come and finish.”
Getting over said hump is the focus for GFESS this season.
“I don’t want this to be our legacy; to blow semifinal games. We play tough in the regular season and we want to be rewarded for that in the playoffs,” Sauer said.
A key player in helping the Gryphons reach the Promised Land is quarterback Colin LaRoche.
“He has been a three-year starter for us and his brother (Campbell) was our quarterback so he is kind of a quarterback legacy for the Gryphons,” Sauer said. “He is like having a coach on the field and he is my voice in the huddle which is nice. He is like me. He has an even demeanour, he doesn’t get riled up, things are good with him and he kind of keeps the rest of the guys level.”
LaRoche is a good counterpoint for some of the more ‘intense’ players on the GFESS roster.
“We have volatile guys. They play well and you need that edge but we also need someone to keep them reined it and he does.” he said.
LaRoche is hoping his team can get it done in the post season.
“We have been practising really hard and our goal is to win that SOSSA (Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association) championship and go on to OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations),” he said. “We have a whole different mindset this year and we are ready for anything.”
That new mindset has many elements.
“We have guys showing up for practice more, we’re taking it more seriously and we have a lot more heart. We are a big family now and we are a lot closer. Last year we were iffy, iffy.”
LaRoche came back for 12B because of football.
“I needed to be with my guys one more year. It means everything to me and I want to make my last year of football a good one.”
He takes his captaincy seriously.
“I want to make sure my guys know what they’re doing and their assignments and once we are all together we are one big family. It makes it easy for me.”
Much like the Gryphons, the Wolfpack are dealing with their own demons in recent seasons. That history of shooting itself in the foot was evident again in the loss to Greater Fort Erie.
“Self-inflicted mistakes, personnel mistakes and all fixable mistakes,” West Niagara head coach Zack Silverthorne said. “Their third touchdown was the result of 50 yards in defensive penalties and that was a killer. That’s half the field and they punched it in. Offensively, we had a little bit here and there but couldn’t get any momentum.”
The Wolfpack also struggled with on-side kicks.
“We worked on it for two days and then it was ‘Oh, they kicked on-side.’ ”
Thankfully all the issues are correctable.
“It’s come to practice please, pay attention, come to meetings and know your responsibilities,” Silverthorne said.
Despite his team’s start, he likes his roster.
“We have lots of depth, we have kids who are tough and athletic and want to fight. Now we need attention to detail. It’s a short four-game season and now we are 0-2. We’ve been snakebitten for three years.”
On Thursday, the Gryphons led 14-0 after the first quarter and hung on for the win.
“A big, big win and a nail-biter. We jumped on them and it looked like we might roll and then they showed a lot of heart and effort to come back on us and it was tight,” Sauer said. “We didn’t play exceptionally well discipline-wise and we have to fix that for next week. But we played well enough to win.”
STATS PACK
Gryphons 22 Wolfpack 14
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Greater Fort Erie’s Chad Phillips with a strong game on defence and specials, including recovering an on-side kick and a game-clinching fumble.
For the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons: 59-yard TD run by Cole Hilmayer; 10-yard TD run by Josh Cuizon; two-yard TD run by Brayden Stoddard; single point on missed field goal by Mateo Ayala; sack by Kaiden Hicken; fumble recoveries by Phillips and Michael Bielich.
For the West Niagara Wolfpack: three-yard TD run by Liam O’Quinn; two-yard TD run by Coby Green; sacks by Anderson Cooper and Adam Skeldon.
Game stats: First downs: GFESS 12 WN 9. Net offensive yards: GFESS 210; WN 136. Turnovers: GFESS 2, WN 5. Penalties: GFESS 6 for 65 yards, WN 6 for 90 yards.
