Former Westlane juniors ready for senior ball
Westlane senior football coach Jason Babony is a man of few words.
His joy of being back on the football field could be summed up in three words.
“Awesome, really awesome,” he said.
Like his players, Babony missed being out on the field for games and practices.
“I was getting stir crazy. There was lots of family time but nothing beats being out here.”
Westlane football is coming out of the pandemic halt in good health. The Spartans have 30 players at the senior level and 43 at the junior level.
The enthusiasm and excitement about being back is evident everywhere one looks.
“I’m seeing that all over the place, especially with the coaching,” Babony said. “It doesn’t look like it tonight, but I’ve got more coaches than I’ve ever had and it just seems like everyone’s coming out of their boredom shells.”
Players and coaches alike have a new level of commitment.
“I think everyone is sick of Netflix and TikTok so they’re trying to exercise their mind in better avenues.”
Helping Babony coach the Westlane team, which continues to include Stamford players, are Brad Martin, Chris Pelissero, Jordan Hostin, Johnny Grant and Niagara Spears varsity head coach Brian Duguay.
After missing a year of football and having no travel football for two seasons, the coaching staff has been taking a different approach early in to training.
“We started at square one with the form tackling, safe play and all that stuff,” Babony said. “We’ve actually been repping that for 15 minutes every practice as well as with the heavy conditioning to get them back into hitting shape.”
A lack of conditioning was evident early on in the Spartans’ training camp.
“Conditioning was bad but the physicality has been good and proper technique for hitting has also been good because a lot of these guys played on that junior team that won it all.”
The experience those former players garnered in beating Myer 12-7 in Niagara Region High School Athletic Association championship football game in 2019 should help in 2021.
“They know how to win and we have high expectations but at the same time it’s been a year and a half,” Babony said. “We have high expectations every year but senior football is a different animal than junior. You can get three or four athletes on both sides of the ball and win games. In senior, the kids are a little more focused and physical inside the tackle box and things are not the same as junior.
“So we have work to do at the senior level for sure.”
Michael Grimo caught a TD in the win against Myer in the championship game and the 5-foot-8 172 pounder has high hopes for 2021.
“We want to run it back again and win a championship again,” he said. “That’s where I expect us to be and I will settle for nothing lower than that.”
He feels all his former junior teammates are on the same page.
“I expect them to follow along into the future, building Westlane’s football team, trying to get better every day, and just trying to take down teams week by week by week.”
It will be a labour of love for Grimo.
“It so nice to be back out here with my teammates, bonding with them, hitting, getting everything ready and sharpening up for games.”
Grimo never stopped preparing for the return of football.
“I have been practising ever since COVID,” he said. “I’ve been out here with some guys running around and dong drills, But having all the coaches and players back is amazing.”
