Patriots open with win over Gators
Michael Schram lives and breathes Saint Paul Patriots football.
The 17-year-old, Grade 12B student loves suiting up for the blue and white so much he’s returned to school for victory lap of sorts in order to be able to play one last season.
“This is the best place to play football, I wouldn’t want to play anywhere else,” Schram said after scoring a pair of touchdowns as the Patriots defeated the Lakeshore Catholic Gators 35-14 in a Niagara Catholic Athletic Association senior boys football game Friday afternoon at Saint Paul. “I loved football growing up all my life. I’ve been playing since Grade 11 and just love this school for football. We had a lot of guys come out during the off-season and just got better and better as a team.
“We’re a big group now. We’re like a family here and it’s awesome to get a win in Week 1.”
Schram is in his third season at the senior level and is glad to take on a leadership role.
“Leadership in and out of the room, on school property and off school property. Just lead the boys in the right mindset,” he said when asked for his role this season. “Already having years in senior just telling them it’s a more physical game and their heads need to be in it a lot more than junior.”
Schram ran for both of his majors early on in the as the Pats built a 27-7 lead at the half.
“Team effort, 1,000 per cent. I wouldn’t have done it without my line, my team. This was a group effort. We’ve been working hard and have been looking forward to this,” he said.
Schram isn’t sure what the future holds for him on the gridiron.
“Just trying to play as hard as I can and see what goes on,” he said.
And what about life after Saint Paul football?
“I don’t even know how to think of that. Playing football my whole life, it’s going to be tough stepping away from it if I can’t find a place to be,” he said.
Saint Paul coach Rick Oreskovich employs Schram at fullback as well as on defence from time to time at linebacker.
“He’s a player, he’s a gamer,” Oreskovich said. “He’ll play hard. He’s got good skill and he’s one of our team leaders. We depend a lot on him. He’s got potential but we made mistakes and he made mistakes himself he has to work with.”
The Patriots did themselves no favours, taking an inordinate amount of penalties.
“Had a lot of penalties which held us back a lot, but if we clean that up, we’re going have a good season ahead of us,” Schram said.
Oreskovich wasn’t happy with that aspect of the game.
“Looks like we have some hot heads on our team. We definitely lost the penalty battle. There was a flag almost every second play. I was worried about that,” he said.
The Pats also had their share of injuries.
“We’re still not where we should be offensively,” Oreskovich said. “We have a lot of work to do with second team guys because we’re already had two or three out in the first game and these are starters. We don’t have any depth so the second guys are going in and we’ve spent very little time with them so know we’ll have to get back to the drawing board. I didn’t expect to have this many injuries but it happens. We’ll have to fight back and see what we can do.”
The Gators fought to the bitter end, scoring a major on the final play of the game on an impressive run by Austin Cracknell.
“I was happy with the way they continued to go right to the end, getting a touchdown on the last play of the football game when you’re down and the game is out of reach, not letting down and fighting till the end,” Gators head coach Bernie Tessier said. “We have to practise better and defensively we got pushed about a little bit today, I’m not happy about that. We’ll look at the film and get better. We’ll be better next week against St. Francis.”
Oreskovich tipped his cap to the Gators.
“Lakeshore is good opponent. I have to give them credit. They played hard. They have a good coaching staff, the kids were good,” he said.
STATS PACK
Pats 35 Gators 14
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Saint Paul fullback Michael Schram with a pair of touchdowns.
Saint Paul Patriots: Schram 2 touchdowns; John Campbell touchdown; Julian Mangiacasale touchdown; Marco Gruosso touchdown; Sandro Elia four coverts, single; Matt Murray touchdown pass.
Lakeshore Catholic Gators: Nick Jubenbill touchdown; Austin Cracknell touchdown, two converts.
Up next: The Patriots visit Notre Dame Saturday, Sept. 30 at 4 p.m. The Gators host St. Francis next Friday at 3:30 p.m.
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