Wolves start football season on less than ideal note

(Above photo) North Star quarterback Gavin Haggarty (1) tries to evade a Sandwich tackler last Friday night while his Wolves teammate Kingston Gardin (4) looks for running room against the Sabres. Sandwich won the game 33-0. The Wolves return to Sandwich this Friday to play a neutral site game against the Belle River Nobles at 5:30 p.m.

The North Star Wolves football season is underway and it didn’t start they way they were hoping it would.

The Wolves dropped a 33-0 decision to the Sandwich Sabres last Friday night in a game played on Sandwich’s home field in LaSalle. The young Wolves team hung in early but the Sabres slowly pulled away in the first half.

Sandwich opened the scoring with a safety thanks to a quarterback sack in the end zone to make it 2-0. A 20-yard touchdown pass plus extra point gave the Sabres a 9-0 lead before the first quarter was out. The Sabres added a 30-yard touchdown through the air in the second quarter and they added a two-point conversion to make it 17-0, which was the halftime score.

North Star looked to have cut into the Sandwich lead late in the second quarter on an apparent 31-yard touchdown which pass was called off due to a penalty.

Sandwich tacked on two more touchdowns in the third quarter, the first being a four-yard touchdown run and then a 32-yard touchdown run, with one of two extra points converted.

The Sabres had a touchdown of their own called back due to a penalty in the fourth quarter but managed to get a 33-yard field goal on that same drive to round out the scoring.

“Obviously, it didn’t go the way we wanted,” said North Star head coach Emmitt Rosati.

Despite the loss, Rosati saw ways to improve and things to build on.

“I’m super proud of our team. We fought right to the end,” said Rosati.

There were bright spots throughout the game, he added, as they played a tough, physical game and were able to progress in certain areas.

“They worked together really well at times,” he said. 

Penalties, getting in the right positions and simply gaining more experience were things the Wolves will look to clean up. Rosati said they have players this season who are relatively new to football but are needed to play in large roles for the team, but he said they still represented themselves well.

The Wolves return to action this Friday (Sept. 25), also at Sandwich, but it will be against the Belle River Nobles. The Nobles also lost their first game. The kickoff will be 5:30 p.m.

The first home game for North Star will be Oct. 2 at the Libro Centre against L’Essor, starting at 5:30 p.m.

Wolves start football season on less than ideal note

By Ron Giofu