It was a very good season for the North Star Wolves senior football team but it didn’t end the way they wanted it to.
The Wolves lost only two games all season, both to the L’Essor Eagles, but the second of the two losses was in last Saturday night’s St. Clair College Saints Bowl. That game, played at Acumen Stadium on the main campus of St. Clair College, saw L’Essor win 17-0 to capture the WECSSAA Tier 2 championship
North Star and L’Essor entered the game with identical 6-1 regular season records with the Wolves’ lone loss coming in October to L’Essor at the Libro Centre. The Wolves tried to get their revenge but, despite moving the ball at points, couldn’t hit the scoreboard.
The game didn’t see its first points until the final play of the first half when L’Essor kicked a 35-yard field goal. A four-yard run in the third quarter made it 10-0 for L’Essor and they added a one-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to round out the scoring.
Ashton Fevreau, a star all season for the Wolves, was his team’s player of the game.
“It’s definitely a tough loss,” said Fevreau.
Fevreau said he was happy to play with the North Star football program this year. He expressed pride at the work they did as a team in 2024.
“I wouldn’t want to do it with a different bunch of guys,” he said. “It was a great season. I loved playing with this group. We had a lot of success, we grew up and matured as a group. I love this team.”
With an eye already towards next season, Fevreau said the goal is to get back to the championship game and win it.
North Star head coach Joel Charron believed the loss was something that fell on his shoulders.
“I feel like I failed the kids,” he said. “I thought we played great defensively. We couldn’t find a rhythm on offense and that’s on me. This stings.”
Even though the Wolves were shut out, Charron did see a lot of things he liked in Saturday night’s championship game.
“I thought we played the best game we’ve played all year,” he said. “(The loss) is a tough pill to swallow.”
Steven Craner returned after missing the last two games with a knee injury and Charron thought it was one of his best games.
The North Star football program has come a long way in the last few years, Charron noted.
“I’m proud of how this program has progressed,” he said.
Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team won one game that year. Last year, they won four games and their bowl game and this year they had six wins and made it to the championship game.
Stating L’Essor had a lot of senior players, Charron added the Wolves are a mixed team with Grade 9 players right up through Grade 12. He said they made history this season and only graduate about nine players.
“We’ve got our core back (next season),” he said. “(L’Essor) is a strong, experienced team. We just ran into a better team today, that’s all.”
By Ron Giofu
Wolves blanked in WECSSAA championship bowl game
Comments