Mustangs’ season ends in SOSSA semifinals
The Saint Michael Mustangs got a look Wednesday afternoon at what it takes to be successful in the upper echelons of senior high school football.
The end result of a 37-0 loss to the Westmount Wildcats in the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association semifinals was disappointing but the team can learn and grow moving forward.
“It’s huge for the program,” Saint Michael lineman Jacob Shannon said. “The teams that we play in SOSSA are all top 10 in the province and we were top 50 in the Ontario high school rankings so just competing at this level is really good for our young guys. We have a very young team and it’s great for the guys coming up to get a taste for what it is.”
There is no secret in what it will take for the Mustangs to take the next step as a program.
“We have to train in the off-season and in season, keep competing, play summer ball and get in the weight room,” Shannon said.
The Grade 12 player was pleased with how his squad competed compared to last week’s loss to Notre Dame in the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association championship game.
“I thought we played extremely better than last week. We competed and had a way better effort but we just couldn’t get it done at the end,” he said. “The boys showed up and did the best we could.”
Saint Michael head coach Brian Carter echoed Shannon’s comments.
“We just wanted to compete this week, try our best and focus on one task per play and just try and beat the person who is playing front of you,” he said. “If we broke it down simple that way we thought we had a better chance.”
Carter wanted his squad to improve its compete level.
“In life you are not always going to have things given to you. Sometimes you are going to have to work really hard for them. We try to teach life lessons in football and that’s one of the lessons we are trying to teach.”
He loved that his team got to experience a SOSSA semifinal after winning the NCAA third-place game a season ago.
“I played football with some of their coaches at McMaster and they are a very well-coached team,” Carter said. “They run a good program and our kids were playing at this level for the first time and it’s unbelievable for them to experience this for next year.”
The unbeaten Wildcats (9-0) shrugged off a penalty-filled slow start to get rolling with a pair of second quarter touchdowns.
“They have some nice players on that team and I thought it was a battle early on,” Westmount head coach Tom Pain said. “It was good to come down and play in a different environment. We had to adjust to how the game was going. There were a lot of penalties and we have to play more disciplined, and we have to figure out what is allowed and what isn’t allowed. The refs call what they see and you have to adjust.”
Pain knows his team had a challenge no matter who it plays in the SOSSA final. The Wildcats beat Notre Dame in last year’s SOSSA final before losing to A.N. Myer.
“They are both excellent teams and it will be a challenge no matter what. At this time of year it should be a challenge. We’re excited. We are where we want to be at this time of year.”
STATS PACK
Wildcats 37 Mustangs 0
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Westmount’s Matthew Frketich with TD runs of 25, four and one yard.
For the Westmount Wildcats: Frketich, three TDs; 28-yard TD pass from Colin Denkers to Brock Phillipe-Daniel; 35-yard TD pass Denkers to Zach Pain; interceptions by Jacob Pietrantonio, Daniel Hughes and Drew Clark; sack by Jackson Hugli; fumble recovery and sack by Asher Lavoie.
For the Saint Michael Mustangs: interception by Matthew Lim; fumble recovery by Connor Cavey.
Game stats: First downs: WW 13, SM 10. Net offensive yards: WW 334, SM 112. Turnovers: WW 2, SM 4. Penalties: WW 11 for 105 yards, SM 6 for 65 yards.
Up next: Westmount advances to the SOSSA final Tuesday, Nov. 21 at 2 p.m. at Notre Dame against A.N. Myer.
