Adam Prudhomme
Editor
NDSS’ junior boys football team saw their season come to an abrupt end Wednesday following a 28-0 KASSAA quarter-finals loss at the hands of the Holy Cross Crusaders.
Napanee was trailing 21-0 at the half and was never able to sustain a rally long enough to get back in the game. The ending was a disappointing one for the Golden Hawks as though they entered the game as underdogs, they had been playing much better of late and showed signs of being much better than their 2-6 record reflected.
“I definitely think we improved a lot as the season went on,” said Nate Gifkins, a receiver and linebacker with the Golden Hawks. “When we started off we had no idea what we were doing to making it to the playoffs and putting up a fight.”
Dismaying as the shutout loss was, there were plenty of lessons to take away as the players look ahead to next season.
“There’s still so much to learn,” said Max VanHoek, who played on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball this season. “There’s still so much that we have to improve on, like tackling, blocking, catching, basically the fundamentals of playing football.”
Experience was short throughout the entire Hawks roster as even the Grade 10 players didn’t have the benefit of a traditional season in their Grade 9 year, reduced to playing varsity in the absence of a full junior team.
“It was a big change, we could actually hit guys and take them to the ground unlike the Grade 11 and 12s,” said Eli Wilson, a defensive back.
Qualifying for the playoffs was a considerable achievement for the club. They entered the final regular game of the season against Bayridge knowing they had to win or their season would be over. The players admit there were some nerves heading into that game but they were able to put them aside and post a 27-7 victory.
Following Wednesday’s quarter-final loss, the team gathered one more time in a classroom to go over the season and to talk about possible academic avenues that are available to those who stick with football.
“I had no real expectations or goals other than I wanted our retention of players to be good,” said Hawks head coach Chris Shibley. “I was saying at least 30 to 40 players was my goal to make sure we finished the season with that number and guys didn’t quit because they were upset about losing. That was the goal going into it.”
After not having enough interest to field a junior team last year and then facing the same issue at the senior level this year, Shibley wanted to help re-establish the program. Wins and losses weren’t the only measure of success-the development of players was also a major factor.
“There’s a solid chunk out of those Grade 10 kids that are coming back and are already talking about wanting to play senior football,” said Shibley. “The message today was the message all year, I need to see what kind of commitment level there is. I know they’re interested and they’re committed, but I need more than the 15 or 20 that are graduating to Grade 11 if we’re going to have a senior team next year.”
Shibley says NDSS has the student population to field both teams; it’s just about sparking the interest. In a town known more for softball, hockey and rugby, finding players who want to commit to the gridiron hasn’t always been easy. Going up against much more established programs in KASSAA league games can often be discouraging for the first year players, many who had never put on a set of football pads prior to Grade 9.
“For whatever reason football hasn’t had that success,” said Shibley. “Obviously there’s been individuals that have come out that are as good as anybody else in the area. A lot of it I think it has to do with continuity. You’ve got to have coaches that are invested and coaches that are around and then success breeds success. If you’ve got a successful team, that means more kids are probably going to be interested in coming out and your numbers help to sustain themselves. When times are lean then it’s tougher to get kids to buy into a team when they’re worried about making the playoffs or winning a game.”
Though they took their lumps in the first couple of games this season, they showed dramatic improvement heading into the playoffs.
“The message I got from the other schools and coaches and athletic directors has been really positive in terms of our growth and our progression and how much better we’ve looked later in the season,” said Shibley. “I don’t think they were exaggerating when the other coaches came and told me they didn’t want to play us in the playoffs. Because I think we were the team that was showing the most improvement week to week. Up until the Holy Cross game, that was my one disappointment, we didn’t play our best game in our last game which is always my goal. Regardless of outcome, whether you’re winning a championship or you’re not making the playoffs, you always want to play your best game in your last game and we weren’t able to do that this year. But I think overall we’re headed in the right direction.”
Even if the Hawks had won, there’s a chance last Wednesday would have been their final game of the season anyway. A cloud of doubt following the CUPE job action has shrouded the remainder of the KASSAA fall season. All sports have been postponed for the duration of the strike while schools pivot to remote learning. In an effort to fit in as much of the season as possible, KASSAA bumped up the start of the playoffs for most of its sports.
NDSS’ junior girls basketball team came up just short in KASSAA’s basketball quarter-finals, losing 40-34 to second seeded La Salle. The seniors’ girls fell 49-11 to Holy Cross in their quarter-final match.
NDSS’ junior boys’ volleyball team was swept 3-0 by Kingston Secondary in their quarter-final meeting. The Bayridge Blazers pulled off an upset over the Hawks’ senior boys volleyball team, winning in four sets.