October: Month in Review
Saint Michael football in rebuild mode
By Bernie Puchalski - October 27, 2021
Brandon Bell had never played a down of football before suiting up for Saint Michael this fall.
He attended a few football training sessions in the summer at the Niagara Falls high school and his friend, Nathan Carter, just happened to be the son of head coach Brian Carter.
It wasn’t long before the Grade 10 student was loving the sport.
“It is awesome and fun and there is a lot of contact,” he said Wednesday, after scoring two touchdowns to lead the Saint Michael junior team to a 34-7 victory over the visiting Holy Cross Raiders in Niagara Catholic Athletic Association play.
Bell has no hesitation when asked if he would encourage others to take up the sport.
“I would tell them to do it,” he said. “It is lots of fun and you are friends with everyone out here.”
For the first time in maybe ever, Saint Michael doesn’t have a senior program this fall. Early in the school year, Saint Michael had 25-28 kids out for a senior practice but the commitment level left something to be desired.
“We had 16 to 18 kids coming out to practice and there wasn’t enough commitment to really have a senior team,” Brian Carter said. “Unfortunately we had to make a tough decision at that point to only run a junior team.”
It was certainly not an easy decision for anyone at the school to make considering its long history of fielding competitive football squads.
Anthony Federico defensive player of the week
By Bernie Puchalski - September 21, 2021
Saint Michael alumnus Anthony Federico was named the Ontario University Athletics defensive football player of the week.
In an 18-6 victory over the Carleton Ravens, the 2021 East-West Bowl roster member recorded three sacks. The 2019 OUA all-star finished the game with 5.5 tackles, including five solo tackles. The arts and science major finished with 3.5 tackles for losses.
For the Carleton Ravens, Eden graduate Keaton Bruggeling had a big game. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound receiver finished with six catches for 109 yards. In 2019, the 2021 East-West Bowl roster member finished the season with eight catches for 65 yards. Also for Carleton, Sir Winston Churchill alumnus Josh Ferguson had five carries for 12 yards and one catch for six yards
Meanwhile in a 42-14 Waterloo victory over Windsor, the Ford Brothers, both 2021 East-West Bowl roster members, were up to their usual tricks. Quarterback Tre Ford was 18-26 passing for 206 yards and one TD pass. He also had eight rushes for 57 yards, including TD runs of two and seven yards. Tyrell Ford had five punt returns for 119 yards and three solo tackles on defence. Also for Waterloo: Notre Dame product Justin Succar had one run for 24 yards and one catch for 16 yards; Rushon Dagelman, an A.N. Myer grad like the Fords, had one rush for six yards and six catches for 47 yards; and, A.N. Myer grad Dallas Bone recorded one catch for 10 yards.
In Western’s 41-13 victory over McMaster, Myer grad Jake Andrews had three solo tackles and two assisted tackles helping Western defeat McMaster 41-13.
A Note from Mr. Gifford
Septmeber 20, 2021
Parents….
Updates on anything Covid related will be done via our Twitter Page @SaintMichaelCHS We have a case and have some classes where unvaccinated and partially vaccinated students are in isolation. All affected families have received Public Health letters from the school. It is very important that your email is up to date in our system. If you recently changed your email please call the school to update your records.
As we did last year, we will keep parents informed regularly on all things at Saint Michael throughout the pandemic.
Please continue to take steps to stay safe and healthy. Mr. Gifford 😀