Wolves drop to 0-2 but show improved performance vs Belle River
While the result was the same, the North Star Wolves senior football team still showed improvement on the field.
The Wolves were back in action last Friday night for a game against the Belle River Nobles with the latter coming out on top of a 36-13 final score. The game saw the Nobles build a 22-0 in the first half and go on to win, using a predominantly running-based attack.
The game was played at Sandwich Secondary School in LaSalle, the first of two games played there Sept. 25, the other seeing the host school blank St. Joseph 36-0.
The opening drive of the game saw the game’s first touchdown. The Nobles converted a third down near midfield to keep their drive going with it being capped by a one-yard touchdown and a two-point conversion to make it 8-0.
Belle River scored twice more in the second quarter, once on an eight-yard run and, after returning a North Star punt to the Wolves’ ten-yard line, they would cap that drive with a three-yard run.
The Wolves scored the first touchdown of the third quarter thanks to a 47-yard pass from quarterback Cole Young to wide receiver Gavin Haggarty, the latter making a leaping catch before heading to the end zone. The extra point was blocked but North Star had cut it to a 22-6 game.
Belle River would find the end zone twice more in the third quarter. A ten-yard touchdown run and a 25-yard touchdown pass gave the Nobles a 36-6 lead after three quarters.
The fourth quarter saw only one touchdown, but it was by the Wolves. Young found wide receiver Elijah Rusenstrom on a four-yard touchdown pass and, with the extra point, that rounded out the scoring.
This year’s Wolves team is made up of a lot of Grade 10 and Grade 11 players and head coach Emmitt Rosati said he is pleased with how they are progressing. He said Belle River is a big, strong team but he was happy with the toughness the Wolves showed throughout.
“It was a tough, physical battle,” said Rosati. “We fought right until the end.”
The Wolves made some mistakes and took some penalties, something Rosati said they want to clean up, but they showed improvement over the previous week’s game which was a 33-0 loss to Sandwich. He added they were missing some key players and younger players had to fill in and take larger roles, something he felt they did well at.
Part of the improvement, including a solid passing attack last Friday night, was due to players returning from injuries. Young returned after missing last week’s game and that resulted in being able to shift Haggarty from the back-up quarterback role to his regular position of wide receiver.
Rosati said they plan to keep working on the fundamentals and getting better every practice and game.
The next two games for the Wolves are on their home field at the Libro Centre, both at 5:30 p.m. They host L’Essor this Friday (Oct. 2) and St. Joseph the week after (Oct. 9).
The remaining regular season schedule sees the Wolves travel to Essex Oct. 16 for a 7 p.m. game against the Red Raiders before returning to Amherstburg the week after that for a 5:30 p.m. game Oct. 23 against Herman.
Wolves drop to 0-2 but show improved performance vs Belle River
By Ron Giofu
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