Reds dominate NCAA final
It is clearly too early to mention the word dynasty but the Denis Morris Reds boys field lacrosse team certainly appears to be headed in that direction.
Last year’s Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association AAA champions and sixth-place finishers at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championships flexed their muscles Wednesday afternoon with a 14-1 victory over the host Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association championship game.
The victory was clinical and concise.
“We went over a couple of things before we got here because we had the luxury of not playing the morning game,” Reds head coach Matt Vinc said. “It was great to see some of the kids execute the plays. Their goalie made a lot of great saves and we were fortunate to get some good execution.”
Vinc likes how his team is trending heading towards the SOSSA playdowns.
“We only have four Grade 12s and a lot of our team is either in Grade 9 or Grade 11. We had nine guys come in this year and they play key roles,” he said. “With the COVID years, it made it kind of difficult to know where you were going to be in this type of setting and we have progressed really well, especially with the ones who are now in Grade 11. They are really leading the team.”
The biggest difference in the Reds now compared to the start of the season is its chemistry.
“We have a lot of guys who play outside lacrosse and they are teammates. We have Grade 9s and Grade 11s who are teammates and now they are starting to mesh together and you are starting to see a pretty good product on the field,” Vinc said.
What should be scary for the opposition is how good the team’s Grade 9 players are. One of them, Mason Elliott, scored Wednesday and is a starter on attack for the squad.
“He is a guy who I think has a bright future, especially with how he is able to play as a Grade 9,” Vinc said. “We have a bunch of good Grade 9s and he is one of those guys who is going to grab on to the torch and hopefully continue to lead the program.”
The 14-year-old St. Catharines resident suits up for the St. Catharines Athletics No. 1 under-17 team in box and field and also plays with Beast Athletics field team out of Toronto, which competes in the United States.
He is enjoying the chance to play for his high school.
“It is cool because I am a younger guy and I am playing more than some of the older guys. It was weird adjusting to it because it is a different style of lacrosse than what I usually play but I like it a lot. School lacrosse is very fun and it is nice to play with a bunch of different guys.”
He keeps things low key when he plays.
“It’s intimidating to play with the older guys so I just stay quiet and play how I usually play. I don’t change anything.”
Elliott has a simple explanation for the Reds’ success.
“We have a lot of guys who play out of school. They know what to do and they can help guys who don’t play and show them what to do. And everybody just works hard.”
Eliiott knows the time is coming when he will be one of the older guys on the team.
“We have a lot of younger guys who are really good and they will be good for years to come. We talked about how good we could be in the next couple of years and we are building the legacy.”
Also scoring for the Reds in the final were Liam Larocque (4), Alex Forrest (2), Matthew DiPietro (2), Michael Welsh, Cody Rudderham, Connor Bolibruck, Troy Murray and Brady Howe. Wyatt Brown replied for the Fighting Irish.
Notre Dame advanced to the final with a 7-2 victory over Blessed Trinity. Trent Groulx netted a hat trick for the winners and Josh Calder and Ben Tsanoff each scored twice. Complete names for the Thunder scorers were not available.
Notre Dame head coach Mark Ianizzi knew his team was in tough against the powerful Reds team.
“They are very good. It is always a fight when we play against DM. They are extremely well coached to the highest level and their players can execute. Even their seconds and thirds are as strong as the firsts on any other squad.”
It make for a tough team to game plan against.
“It’s minimize our mistakes and it’s a possession game for us. The $1 million-question is whether we can keep possession but we need to keep the ball away from them and keep it in their end as much as we can and hope for some good breaks. But they are a talented squad.”
The two teams will meet again May 28 at Youngs Sportsplex in the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association AAA finals.
“The way the zones shake out, we unfortunately play them again. We have a game plan, we will strategize with this loss here and use it to our advantage,” Ianizzi said.
