Junior Hawks fall to Campbellford Flames

Louis Ferracuti struggles for some hard-won
yardage against Holy Cross. Story this week in The VOICE.

By Terrance Gavan - 

PTE.com Managing Editor

Junior football coach Bruce Griffith is used to the ebb and flow of junior football.

   With no rep league extant in the Highlands, Griff and his assistant coach Ed Tait have become accustomed to welcoming green recruits into the program, Kids who quite literally have to be shown how to don the implements of gridiron wars.

   Last Friday, that learning curve was highlighted once again.

   The Hawks lost 19-6 to Cambbellford High School and after a 9-6 loss in their home opener versus Kenner, the struggling hawks are staring at a 0-2 start, and with perennial powerhouse Holy Cross coming to town today, well, it just ain’t gonna’ get any easier.

   Worse yet, the Hawks newcomer, Cooper Sherlock, dislocated a shoulder in the game and will be lost for the season.

   Griffith was probably sporting the sardonic smile of the long-suffering coach when I contacted him by phone last Monday.

   He may be a little frustrated, but with a team made up of a large complement of grade nine players, he knows that what goes around comes back again.

   He says that last Friday’s road loss was no fluke.

   “They’ve (CHS Flames) got a great team,” smiles Griffith. “And we knew what they were going to do.

They’re big and their offensive line is huge and they basically just ran the ball at us.”

   He adds that the Hawks are starting lots of grade nine players and he’s also trying to give everyone playing time and at present only Louis Ferracuti and Riley Tait were playing both ways.

   He said that once again, it was Ferracuti setting the tone.

   The second year Hawk has played rep league ball in Bancroft since Grade 7 and that added spritz of experience has allowed the plucky young player to excel on both sides of the ball.

   “Louis was our player of the game once again and he led the team in both tackles and rushing yards,” says Griffith.

   Tait had to be called in to play fullback when Sherlock went down. “He played fullback and linebacker and really played well,” said Griffith.

   He adds that the Flames quarterback basically went two ways and never left the field. “He was fast and skilled and they were big, so our guys were pretty beat up after the game.”

   Once again the hawks took a lot of penalties and Griffith adds that the coaches will be addressing that deficiency in the lead up to today’s big match up against the Holy Cross Hurricanes this afternoon on Brohman Field (3:30 pm with Seniors at 1:30 pm).

   Highlight of the game was a 70 yard full throttle punt return by special teams’ player Gage Shelley.

   “It’s going to be a tough game (Holy Cross),” smiles Griffith. “They’ll have 5 or 6 coaches on the sideline and a lot of players that have played football before in other leagues.”