Tyler Eckert is a lean, mean football machine, but he struggled to keep his emotions in check. He should have been ecstatic, not choking back tears. A magnificently powerful performance on the Friday night lights stage, like the one Eckert engineered in his team’s upset of B.C. high school football’s top-ranked squad, normally would result in unbridled elation from a teenage boy.
Not last Friday.
The game had the upmost personal importance to Eckert. And to every one of his teammates.
On offence, Eckert carried the ball 19 times for 109 yards and two touchdowns. On defence, he recorded eight tackles and two quarterback sacks as the fifth-ranked St. Thomas More Knights shocked the Terry Fox Ravens of Port Coquitlam 15-8 at Percy Perry Stadium in Coquitlam.
The win meant more to STM than just improving to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the Eastern conference. It came less than 36 hours after the funeral of beloved head coach Bernie Kully, who died Sept. 30 after losing a battle with esophageal cancer at the age of 41.
It was Kully who took the stud six-foot-one, 210-pound defensive end and made him the team’s feature running back, too.
“Mr. Kully was like a father to me. Every play was for him out there. Every single player played for him out there,” said Eckert as he stifled sniffles minutes after the win. “I am all Mr. Kully. I wouldn’t be out here without Mr. Kully. Mr. Kully made me what I am.”
Kully’s inspiration was palpable on the field. That became more evident as the game went on.
“You dig deeper every single play. Every single step you dig deeper for Mr. Kully. I wouldn’t do it any other way,” said Eckert. “Fox is one of the best teams in the province. That was one of the hardest games I’ve played and one of my favourites ever. This is the most meaningful game of my life.”
Fox scored the first points against the STM defence this season five minutes into the first quarter. Quarterback Jevaun Jacobsen hit Albert Arecena with a touchdown toss for a 6-0 Fox lead. The Ravens extended the lead to 8-0 in the second quarter, when STM quarterback Dario Ciccone was sacked in his end zone for a safety touch.
In the first half, the Knights defence struggled to deal with Fox’s dynamic duo, as Kully’s successor Steve De Lazzari calls them. That would be Jacobsen and running back Jaden Severy. In the end, though, Jacobsen rushed for 114 yards while Severy had 71.
As the first half wound down, the Ravens were poised to add to their lead. But Jacobsen was intercepted by STM’s Ethan Austin, who ran it back 50 yards into Terry Fox territory. The pick turned the game around.
Three plays later, Eckert scored on an eight-yard run with 15 seconds left in the half. Ciccone connected with David Osho for a two-point conversion and an 8-8 tie at halftime. After the catch, Osho pointed to the sky in a tribute to Kully.
“To have it all square at the half, that was a huge momentum booster. We could see that. These guys (STM) are a well-conditioned group, and we knew if we kept wearing them down, and kept wearing them down, that was going to start to take over at some point and I think it did,” said De Lazzari, who received defensive game plan tips on how to deal with Fox from Kully in his dying days.
“Coach Kully was a defensive coordinator, and maybe in a way it was his spirit playing through them. They played their hearts out for him, and that’s what makes this special.”
With 4:48 left, and the Knights fourth down with inches to go on the Fox 22, Eckert eschewed going into the clogged line to get the minuscule real estate STM needed. Instead he went around the outside for a 22-yard touchdown romp for a 15-8 lead. In the final minute, Fox threatened but, out of timeouts, the clock ran out.
After the initial jubilation, the players gathered and knelt. “He’s smiling upon us,” said one of the team leaders. From there, the celebration with each other and family and friends was subdued. Hugs were prolonged, red eyes were rubbed sore, and tears mixed with sweat were wiped away.
“I’ve been coaching football for 15 years, and this is the most special night ever,” said De Lazzari, choking back sobs. “It’s even bigger than when I won a provincial championship in Grade 12. I put it in that level. The effort these boys put in tonight, and I know we have a ways to go, there’s some excellent teams in this province, but to put that out on the field the way they did tonight in those circumstances was just amazing. I’m so proud of them.
“There’s raw emotion there, for sure. They feel it. They loved Coach Kully, and that’s showing right now. That’s a testament to the character of this group and this team.”
De Lazzari admitted Fox was the better team in the first half.
“We were a bit slow, and I had a funny feeling given how the week went that we were going to have a slow start. Our defence, oh my gosh, I think Sam Steele was just at another level today,” said De Lazzari of the nose tackle who racked up 15 tackles and five sacks.
Prior to the game the Ravens were not only rated first in B.C., but eighth in Canada.
“We didn’t play to our potential, I’m not going to take anything away from them, it was a really hard-fought game, I think the emotion really came into it,” said Fox head coach Martin McDonnell. “We gave them that first touchdown. The coaches will take that one. That was us getting a little bit greedy.
“Hats off to them, they’re a well-coached team, they came out and did some things we weren’t expecting, they spread us out and we hadn’t seen that all year.
“Three of our coaches were at the funeral (Thursday). We warned the guys it was going to be like that and it certainly was, they played with a lot of emotion.”
De Lazzari tried to downplay what conquering the top team meant to his squad.
“I’ll be honest, it’s just a step because there’s a lot more for us to give, and there’s a lot of outstanding programs in the province this year. It is so good. This is the most competitive year I can remember in a long time,” he said.
Next up is another team that’s 3-0 in the conference, Surrey’s Lord Tweedsmuir. The Knights will battle the Panthers at Burnaby Lake Sports Complex West on Friday (Oct. 13, 7:30 p.m.).
“They’re no easy out either. They’ve got an excellent team,” said De Lazzari, who was then asked how the Knights adjust their attention after such an emotional week and win.
“My belief is we just come to work on Monday, and we refocus. We heal up all of the bang-ups from tonight, because that was a hard game, and we just do the exact same process as we did tonight. We break down the film with them and figure out what their tendencies are and figure out what to do.”
This time, though, he won’t have the benefit of Kully’s advice.
with files from Mario Bartel
