Redcoats ground Flyers to clinch bye
With second place and a first-round bye on the line Wednesday night, the Governor Simcoe Redcoats took care of business.
When the final whistle sounded, the Redcoats (4-1) emerged with a 44-0 victory over the Eden Flyers (2-3) to clinch second place in Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Tier 2 senior football play. Simcoe led the game 41-0 by halftime.
“We have been looking forward to this game against Eden because we have had a good battle back and forth the last couple of years,” Simcoe head coach Jamie Brophy said. “We have lost a few and we wanted to step back and demonstrate that we are ready to go.”
The Redcoats left no doubt about who was the better team Wednesday.
“They executed really well and I was really proud of how hard they worked in practice this week and it showed and paid off in the game,” Brophy said. “The bye week will be great and we will get some of our injured kids back which will be fantastic.”
Fantastic for the Redcoats Wednesday was running back Remy Gavanac, who scored four rushing majors in the first half.
“He is great on both sides of the ball and he races back every day from co-op just to make sure he is here at practice and on time,” Brophy said. “He never misses and he is a great leader.”
The Grade 12B student is equally effective on defence as he is on offence.
“He plays halfback for us and he’s sealing the edge and he’s controlling the flats,” Brophy said. “Against a team like Eden, which is moving the ball to the side, that positional player is really important.”
Gavanac felt it was really important for the Redcoats to beat the Flyers.
“We were pushing and hoping for a bye and a home playoff game the next week afterwards,” the 18-year-old said. “And three years ago, they won three times against us and we have had a rivalry against them ever since then. We really wanted to win.”
Gavanac is enjoying his final year of high school football and doesn’t mind the 40-minute drive every day to practice from his co-op in Welland with Mountainview Homes.
“I just love football,” he said. “It’s fun and it’s exciting.”
Gavanac expects this will be his last year of playing football and he’s going to miss it.
“I’m trying to make the most of it and do the best I can,” he said. “We are all family and we help each other out with our ups and downs.”
And while Eden had a lot more downs than ups Wednesday, Flyers head coach Jeff Webster wasn’t disappointed in his team.
“It wasn’t what we were hoping for but we had 19 players tonight and every single one of them gave everything that they had to the best of their abilities.”
At least five starters were out of the lineup for Eden, including two that played both ways.
Webster was impressed with the Redcoats.
“They are a very good team, they are well disciplined, they are very well coached and give them a lot of credit,” he said. “They were certainly as good as a team as we have seen this year.”
STATS PACK
Redcoats 44 Flyers 0
Johnny Rocco’s/Mick and Angelo’s/Cracker Jacks Player of the Game: Simcoe’s Remy Gavanac with four touchdowns
For the Governor Simcoe Redcoats: Gavanac, first-half TD runs of 63, four, 13 and 29 yards; Max Grant, two interceptions, including a 60-yard pick six; 13-yard TD pass Gabe DiSanto to Andrew Scott; 15-yard field goal by Danny Lewis; fumble recovery by Marcus Maynard.
For the Eden Flyers: interception by Dawson Abrahams.
Game stats: First downs: Simcoe 6, Eden 11. Net offence Simcoe 167, Eden 131. Turnovers: Simcoe 1, Eden 7. Penalties: Simcoe 9 for 80 yards, Eden 6 for 45 yards.
