Marauders continue to roll
The A.N. Myer Marauders senior football team can thank the Rotary Youth Exchange program for its top defensive player.
Arden Martinez was in Grade 5 when his family hosted an exchange student from The Netherlands. The visitor got him hooked on football, even buying him the Madden NFL American football video game in Grade 6.
“I learned all the players and within a year I knew everyone,” the 17-year-old said. “From then on, I wanted to play football and in Grade 7, I played some house league.”
He arrived at Myer in Grade 9 with high expectations.
“The first practice I came out here and made a really good play at receiver and I thought I had solidified my spot there. Then I looked at the depth chart for Grade 9s and I am starting on the O line,” he said. “I was 155 pounds and I didn’t know how that was going to be. The year after that, I got to play a bunch of receiver and then we had COVID.”
He ended up playing touch football all over the field during the pandemic and the 6-foot-3, 200 pounder arrived at Myer this fall ready to rock and roll.
“Arden is a stud,” said Myer head coach Dave Buchanan, moments after the Marauders defeated the visiting Westlane Spartans 35-0 in Niagara Region High School Athletic Association senior football Tier 1 football semifinal action.
“He plays middle linebacker, he flies all over the field and he has got great speed and size. He is a blue chipper as far as being university-calibre player. He will play at another level and he is a 95-plus average student.”
Martinez plays linebacker, offensive tackle and also punts for Myer.
“He could play quarterback and we are fortunate to have him,” Buchanan said, adding it is Martinez’s motor that takes him to the next level.
“He is a 1,000 miles an hour every play and he doesn’t take plays off. It is just not in him to do that and we have to protect him from himself at times,” he said.
Martinez also possesses a great work ethic.
“Every once in a while that type of kid comes around and we’re fortunate because we have had a number of them. We don’t want to see him go. We want to coach that kid forever,” Buchanan said.
Martinez’s favourite position is outside linebacker.
“It gives me more highlights,” he said, with a laugh. “I’m not getting blocked as much.”
Martinez agrees he is a max effort player.
“If there’s people hitting me, I am not going down. One guy is not bringing me down and if I am up on my feet, my feet are going to keep moving.”
After this season, Martinez will be moving on to study engineering and play football at the university level and he has had interest from Waterloo, the University of Toronto, McMaster, York and Dalhousie to name a few.
“It is going to be a gut feeling,” he said of his future home. “When you step on campus, you will know that’s where you belong.”
Buchanan was happy his team was able to get by Westlane.
“This is a crosstown rivalry and we know that they always play hard,” he said. “We are always anxious about it, especially with the history of them beating us in the junior championship game two years ago. The boys were pretty motivated.”
Westlane is known for hitting hard and Thursday was no exception.
“They do and they are coached well,” Buchanan said. “They have a lot of pride and the score doesn’t always reflect how tough a game it was.”
He likes how his team is trending heading into next week’s championship game against Churchill.
“They are pretty focused,” Buchanan said. “They didn’t play a clean first half and we made some mistakes that they shouldn’t make but we are coaching teenagers. But this team is a dedicated, focused, hard-working team and I have to pretty much kick them off the field after practice.
“We are in a good place.”
Buchanan is confident this year’s team is not feeling the pressure of living up to the expectation of Myer squads that came before them.
“They are their own team and they should take pride in the amount of work that they have put in. They are the ones that have put the work in. It is not past teams who have put the work in,” he said. “They know that they are not those teams and that they are a good team.”
Westlane head coach Jason Babony pointed to his team’s start as a key factor in the loss.
“We came out flat and it bit us in the butt. We made a couple of big mistakes in the first half and it came back to get us.”
Babony knew his squad needed to be real good to topple the Marauders.
“You can’t make mistakes, not even one,” he said. “They pay attention to detail.”
Westlane went 3-2 in regular season play and Babony was satisfied with his team’s season.
“For being a small school and having guys coming at 3 o’clock and having to leave at 4:30 (Stamford players), we played well,” he said.
He was thrilled to get a season in after the 2020 campaign was lost to COVID.
“I didn’t even think it was going to happen so hats off to the DSBN (District School Board of Niagara).”
Babony isn’t sure how many players will be lost to graduation.
‘We are not 12B heavy and we don’t get fifth-year guys too often but maybe they will make a pact to come back.”
Marauders 35 Spartans 0
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Myer’s Quin Douglas with TD catches of 23 and 29 yards from Drake Somerville and a 18-yard TD run.
For the A.N. Myer Marauders: Douglas, three TDs; 80-yard kick return for a TD by Eugene Park; 13-yard TD run by Tyler Goforth; single point on kick by Josh Hicks; fumble recoveries by Javier Vanderwalt and Cedric Berketo; interception by Shayel Penuela; sack by D’Angelo Holness.
For the Westlane Spartans: fumble recovery by Keenan Aird; interception by Aiden Higgins.
Game stats: Net offence: Myer 360 yards, Westlane 110 yards. First downs: Myer 16, Westlane 8. Turnovers: Myer 3, Westlane 5. Penalties: Myer 11 for 110 yards, Westlane 5 for 45 yards.
Up next: Myer will play Churchill next week in the NRHSAA final.
