Golden Eagles earn playoff bye
Thorold’s Tyrese Gibson started playing football last season for one main reason.
“Originally I started because I just wanted to get out there with the guys. It was a sport that I had never tried before,” he said Wednesday, after scoring four touchdowns to power the Thorold Golden Eagles to a 42-13 victory over the visiting Eden Flyers in Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Tier 2 senior action.
The 17-year-old was anything but an overnight sensation.
“At first, I wasn’t really the best. When I was getting handoffs, I was fumbling a lot and it wasn’t great. But the guys stuck with me and helped me to improve as a player.”
Football has become his passion.
“I was a track and basketball guy but now football is the best thing. I play football with the Niagara Spears outside of school and I am very grateful.”
His Varsity Spears’ experience has been a big benefit to his game.
“It was very important because without that training I do not think I would be as good as I am. That training helped a lot.”
The Grade 12 student is a much different player than when he started.
“Last season, I was just thinking about getting better but this season I don’t really care about me. I’m a team guy,” the 5-foot-8 150 pounder said. “For example, today I was really hard on the team because I wanted them to go out there and get the win because two weeks ago we got shit stormed by this team, excuse my language. I just didn’t want that to happen again.”
He is looking forward to continuing to grow as a football player.
“I have to keep getting the guys involved, get more people out and go in every day and work.”
Gibson’s track background — he qualified for South Regionals in the junior boys 200 metres this spring— gives him a leg up on the competition.
“My track speed really helps me to get away from guys and it helps me find that extra gear when someone is coming to tackle me.”
Gibson is part of Thorold’s Thunder and Lightning backfield.
“We have Braiden (Genest) and Tyrese back there and they just both work their butts off. Both played Spears, got the reps in and dedicated themselves,” Thorold head coach Duane Kemp said. “Last year, Tyrese was new to football and it just shows what hard works does. You can’t cheat it. He put the hard work in and look at him now. He is one of the best players in the league.”
There’s lots to like about Gibson’s game
“It’s his speed, his jump cuts, his hands and his feet. If he sees space, he can dart through it or cut when needed. He’s a heckuva player and I am glad that he is on our team,” Kemp said.
Thorold’s win gave them a 4-2 regular season record and it clinched second place and a first-round bye into the semifinals. Thorold will host that semifinal game.
“The ultimate goal was to get the bye week. We have a few more injuries again so we want to get everybody healthy and firing on all cylinders.” Kemp said.
Home field advantage is a big deal for the Golden Eagles.
“This is our field and we fought hard to be playing here. We have the fans show up for us here and we feel that home field advantage is important to us. We want all roads to come through Thorold as much as possible.”
Thorold took control of the game early and never let up.
“We have been trying to preach about getting a hot start. The last time we played these guys they got up on us 14-0 before we even knew what happened and then we started to weather the storm. But it was just too late,” Kemp said. “We also know today wasn’t the same Eden team we played a couple of weeks ago. Without 37 (Isaac Leder) and 69 (Justin Gilks) they are a different team but we can only play who is against us and we took care of business. I am proud of the guys for that.”
Eden (3-3) beat Thorold 21-7 on Oct. 20 but a banged up Flyer squad couldn’t replicate the feat Wednesday.
“We are short guys and we had to modify our offence completely for this game. We didn’t do a lot of running and we just had to try and play with the guys that we had,” Eden had coach Bob Krzeczkowski said. “I am happy with what they did. They put in a good effort but when we get thin we have trouble matching up.”
He is hoping sick bay will empty out in time for next week’s quarter-final game against the relegated Tier 1 Westlane Spartans.
“We are looking forward to next week when we hopefully get the rest of our guys back.”
STATS PACK
Golden Eagles 42 Flyers 13
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Thorold’s Tyrese Gibson with four touchdowns.
For the Thorold Golden Eagles: TD runs of one, 38 yards and 16 yards by Tyrese Gibson and a 12-yard TD catch from Kaleb Locatelli; four-yard and three-yard TD runs by Braiden Genest and a two-point convert on pass from Locatelli; interception by Tyler Olsen; fumble recovery by Jack Imerese; sack by Kole Stevens.
For the Eden Flyers: four-yard and 28-yard TD passes from Ben Enns to Wes Wiens.
Game stats: First downs: Thorold 14, Eden 11. Net offensive yards: Thorold 264, Eden 189. Penalties: Thorold 6 for 50 yards, Eden 9 for 65 yards. Turnovers: Thorold 1, Eden 4.
Up next: Thorold earns a bye into Tier 2 semifinals and Eden hosts Westlane in the quarter-finals on Nov. 10.
