The fields at Barrie North and St. Joseph’s high schools are just two kilometres and about a five-minute drive apart, but they produced two widely divergent results in senior high school football games this week.
On Thursday, the Barrie North Vikings took advantage of an understaffed Innisdale Invaders team to roll to a decisive 37-0 victory in Simcoe County Athletic Association (SCAA) action.
Two days earlier, the St. Joseph’s Jaguars pulled off a shocking 21-1 win over the St. Joan of Arc Knights (JOA) in Catholic School Athletics of Simcoe County (CSASC) action, the first defeat suffered by the defending champions in some 12 years at the hands of a local Catholic school.
“Playing on a tough day, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving,” explained Jaguars head coach Erik Scott, “so, no practices before, which I’m sure was a bigger pain for them because they had to travel (to us) ... But we’ve been harping on our group that we have the talent here to compete with (JOA).
"Things went our way early and we were able to play with the lead," he added. “That made a big difference.”
At Barrie North, running back Christian Giguere rumbled 70 yards early in the first quarter to stake the Vikings to an early 14-0 lead and they didn’t look back.
Fittingly, the Giguere’s gallop took him past a group of Minesing Central Public School students who were in attendance. The Grade 11 student, who lives in Springwater, graduated from Minesing Central three years ago.
“It was nice to see everyone (that way) and so I just put on the jets and keep going,” 16-year-old Giguere told BarrieToday.
The Invaders, fresh off winning on the final play of the game last week against rival Eastview, became flustered early and often, not helped by two-way lineman Hudson Ball being ejected in the first quarter.
Down a man – which was essentially two short for the already short-staffed Invaders – Innisdale could do little to stem the onslaught in front of a big crowd enjoying the fifth consecutive week of summer-like temperatures.
“Coming off that big win over Bear Creek, it just feels good to keep flying,” said Giguere, who has now scored 10 touchdowns this season. “It feels good to be 5-0 and get ready for next week with another big game against Collingwood.”
The Vikings also got touchdowns from Dylan Lathangue, Luke Kidson and Cullen Falldien. Ryan Minns kicked four converts and a field goal for North.
Barrie North put themselves in the driver's seat at the top of the SCAA standings with a 22-7 win over Bear Creek on the road last week. The Kodiaks won 43-7 over Banting on Thursday and appear to be headed for the third seed when the playoffs begin in two weeks.
St. Joseph's got a defensive touchdown early from Joe Chuich and then another offensive score from Nathan Velema, on a pass from quarterback Liam Walton.
Two field goals and a single accounted for the rest of the Jaguars' points, but, more significantly, they kept the Knights in check after a 35-10 loss on the road two weeks earlier.
“Our defence really locked in,” explained Scott. “Even in the first game, we thought that we did, too, but (the second game) we were able to not turn the ball over, score an offensive touchdown and keep moving the ball a little bit and that was enough with our great defensive performance.”
The Jaguars will travel to Midland for a game against St. Theresa's on Friday. Despite St. Joseph's big win over the defending champions, St. Joan of Arc is likely going to finish in first place, but the result on Tuesday raises the possibility of a grudge match on Nov. 8 in the Catholic loop final.
“JOA has been a powerhouse for so long, we had to convince ourselves that it was possible,” said Scott. “We now know that and (hopefully) we can do it again come playoff time.”
