Irish win battle of unbeaten teams
It was definitely a case of no pain, no gain for Notre Dame’s Everett Hemauer in Thursday night’s battle of unbeaten Niagara Catholic Athletic Association senior football squads.
Hemauer scored two touchdowns to lead the Fighting Irish (4-0) to a 24-3 victory over the Saint Francis Phoenix (3-1) but he spent a good portion of the fourth quarter battling painful leg cramps.
“I usually have them after the game but this game I guess I have to drink more water and eat more bananas,” the 16-year-old said. “It was terrible. It was happening in both legs on the calves and in my hamstring on the right. It was bad and it hurt so bad.”
The 5-foot-9, 170 pounder’s play inflicted pain on the Phoenix.
“I think Saint Francis thought they were a lot better than what they showed today. They thought they were going to blow us out and so did everyone else and we just turned them down.”
Notre Dame football coach Tim Bisci describes Hemauer as something else.
“He has stepped up this year. I was concerned last year after losing Justin (Savoie) to graduation and wondering who we had and hoping someone could play,” he said. “He has been better than expected. He’s tough, he runs hard, he’s fast and he understands the offence this year which is the biggest thing. Last year he came out of junior football and you gave him the ball and said run there and he did. Now we are trying to search for stuff, we run some zone and read and he is starting to do it.”
Bisci loves that Hemauer wants the ball in his hands.
“He wants to take it to the next level and he has really improved his football IQ. He has always been a good athlete and now he’s a good athlete with a football IQ. It is really helping him out.”
That football IQ is not by accident.
“I know the plays off by heart. I switched from fullback to running back last year at the end and I had not clue what the plays were. I was doing whatever and I would ask the quarterback and he would always have my back,” Hemauer said.
The team’s playbook became the Grade 12 student’s preferred reading material.
“He gave us a new playbook at the start of the season and I have been studying it ever since. I look at it before every game and then before I go to bed I look at it some more.”
Hemauer does not lack confidence in his abilities and even last year felt he should have been given more opportunity to run the ball.
“I love running the ball and I always want the ball. I know I am good at it and I don’t think coach saw what I could do, especially last year.”
Thursday’s game was a chippy affair and Bisci was not surprised by the amount of penalties in the first half of the game.
“It was so over-hyped on social media and stuff like that. The kids were chatting back and forth on social media and they all know each other. You could see that the kids were tense. I think it kind of got the best of everyone,” he said. “I was getting calls ‘What are you going to do to stop them? What are you going to do for this or that?’ We were just trying to figure it out.”
The Irish came into the game beaten up.
“We are down two kids on offensive line and in any high school football, you go down two kids on the offensive line and it is chaos,” Bisci said. “We were kind of struggling a little bit offensively today but defensively we played fairly well. We have to shore up a few things but I thought we played fairly decent and got the job done.”
The field goal the Irish surrendered were the first points they allowed all season and the win gave them home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
“We have been pretty good the last few years and the road out comes through Notre Dame,” he said. “We need to be ready to play. They are going to regroup, they will figure stuff out and we are going to have get better.”
Hemauer feels home field advantage is not a big deal for the Irish.
“I think we can win wherever. We have a very good team this year.”
Saint Francis heard coach Joe Lentini enjoyed the game but not the outcome.
“It was a very exciting and very tough. We couldn’t make the plays to get a touchdown but we are ready for the playoffs and we will see them again.”
It is back to the drawing board for Lentini and his coaching staff.
“We have a lot of work to do in every facet of the game in terms of passing, catches, tackling, make sure everyone is there to make the play and execute well.”
Saint Francis had outscored its opposition 99-7 in three previous wins but the Irish gave Phoenix quarterback Cameron Mepham little or no time to throw the ball.
“There was a lot of pressure from that team and it was a lot different than the others. We have to give him more time so that he can execute the plays,” Lentini said.
He chalked up the blizzard of penalty flags in the first half to passion and intensity.
“It was a regular season game but we still wanted to win it. There was a lot of tension and pressure out there and the boys wanted it.”
Except for the result, the game was a good way for the Phoenix to enter the playoffs.
“We haven’t been tested like we were today. It is a whole different ball game playing against Notre Dame,” Lentini said. “They are seventh in Ontario for a reason. It will make us better and we have something to focus on for the next game.”
STATS PACK
Irish 24 Phoenix 3
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Notre Dame’s Everett Hemauer with TD runs of 14 and 49 yards and two long TD runs called back because of penalties.
For the Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Hemauer, two TDs; Sean Bisci, two-yard TD run; Brodie Bevacqua, 27-yard field goal; Jacob Iannizzi, interception; Jamarion Witter, sack; Liam Liddiard, sack.
For the Saint Francis Phoenix: Gavin Paxton, 31-yard field goal; Carter Dmytrow. 1.5 sacks; Maximus Cataldo 0.5 sacks; Elijah Jama, sack; Sadiekie Hayden, two sacks.
Game stats: First downs: ND 13, SF 6. Net offensive yards: ND 249, SF 102. Turnovers: ND 2, SF 3. Penalties assessed: ND 12 for 100 yards, SF 11 for 65 yards (many penalties were offsetting).
