Wolfpack advance to Tier 2 final
The visiting West Niagara Wolfpack senior football team roared into the Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Tier 2 final with a 55-7 victory over the Thorold Golden Eagles Thursday afternoon.
“Teams in our league are having a football jamboree on the first Friday and our equipment was getting delivered from the other school so we have a history of getting better as the season goes on,” West Niagara head coach Zack Silverthorne said. “It just so happens that this year we had two overtime losses and a couple of losses by five and then we ended up falling to Tier 2.”
Unfortunately for Thorold, they landed on the Golden Eagles’ home field in the semifinals.
“Nothing against them. They played tough and they played hard but we have had three weeks of practice to fine tune our special teams and our passing game is very crisp at the moment,” Silverthorne said. “If the weather stays good, it is good for us.”
After failing to qualify for the Tier 1 playoffs, the Wolfpack set their sights on the Tier 2 crown.
“Winning anything is good. These are the rules that all the coaches voted on and we just happen to be the biggest school that dropped down in the playoffs,” he said. “They are kids and if they can win the Tier 2 championship I will be proud of all of them. You still have to play to win.”
Thorold finished second in the Tier 2 regular season to get a bye into the semifinals.
“Obviously the game didn’t go the way we wanted it to. The start killed us. We got down early, we had a couple of chances to make some plays and we didn’t do it,” Thorold head coach Duane Kemp said. “It got away from us and things started spiralling from there. It is like a snowball rolling down the hill. The deficit just keeps getting bigger and bigger and then we are trying to do too much rather than simplifying things.”
Kemp quoted Ted Lasso for the solution that never happened.
“We needed to be goldfish a little bit more, forget about the previous play and focus on the next play,” he said. “We live, we learn and it is still a great experience.”
He knew his team was in tough.
“We played West Niagara for the first time; a school that probably has 800 more kids than us and double our size. Obviously it wasn’t our best today but we will be back.”
Kemp felt his squad had another solid season.
“This was the second year in a row that we lost to a Tier 1 team and I can’t be too upset about that. We would have liked to put in a better showing but in our own league we are competitive. We lost to Simcoe in Week 2 and it would have been nice to give them another go and see how we stack up but it is what it is and next year we will be back to the drawing board.”
STATS PACK
Wolfpack 55 Golden Eagles 7
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: West Niagara quarterback Xavier Zatylny with three rushing TDs, three TD passes and 8-8 passing for 201 yards.
For the West Niagara Wolfpack: Zatylny, three TDs; Alex Suntz, 10 carries for 126 yards and a TD; Lucas Hazelton, rushing TD; Kieran McDonald, 30-yard TD catch; Liam O’Quinn 35-yard TD reception; Tanner Mantini, 45-yard TD reception; Kyle Azem-Simmons, interception; Levi VanRyn, Ryan Churchill and Tye Rutkowsky, sacks.
For the Thorold Golden Eagles: Kaleb Locatelli, 10-16 passing for 60 yards; Tyrese Gibson, 60 all-purpose yards including 18-yard TD run; Braiden Genest, 40 all-purpose yards; and, Owen Haywood, 60-yard kickoff return.
Up next: West Niagara advances to the Tier 2 championship game.
