For the St. Thomas More Knights varsity football team, every season begins with a mountain to climb.
This year is no different.
On top of having one of the smaller school bodies in B.C. AAA senior football and facing a round table of stiff-armed rivals in the Eastern Conference – which includes the defending Subway Bowl champion Terry Fox Ravens – these Knights are a squad in transition.
With head coach Bernie Kully taking a leave of absence, longtime St. Thomas More coach Steve De Lazzari has taken over the head coaching duties of the senior team aiming to keep a playoff string going, one that dates more than 10 years long.
Last year’s first-round exit, just the second time in eight seasons they failed to get to the quarter-finals, provided the requisite motivation for those returnees, said De Lazzari, who was part of Kully’s staff, working with the linebackers
and running backs over the past few years.
“I’m hoping we experience growth everywhere,” said De Lazzari. “Especially in the competitive nature we have in high school football in B.C., I’d like to see us get better every week, just across the board. On defence, on offence, by every position by just working hard week in, week out.”
And that has been part of the program’s trademarks during its lengthy playoff streak, which includes trips to the Subway Bowl semifinals in 2011, 2012 and 2014, and finals in 2007.
Having players who embrace that history and the responsibilities of wearing the Knights’ red and whites has helped keep the ball moving and the team competitive.
This year’s roster is no different than past seasons, where double-duty is the usual rule, not the exception. A lot of returning players carry the mantle high, and incoming teenagers pick up roles and responsibilities while adjusting to the higher level.
Senior Tyler Eckert is one veteran De Lazzari is comfortable with in any situation. As a running back, the six-foot-two Eckert was a huge sparkplug, racking up an average of 114 yards per game in 2016.
Injuries limited him to just five contests, but his 402 yards, including eight touchdowns, made him the Knight in the spotlight when in uniform.
“(Eckert) is going to be a running back and defensive end for us, and we’re definitely looking to him to provide a spark on both sides of the ball, game in and game out,” remarked the coach. “He missed a bit of last season with some issues, but certainly when he did play he was a force.”
The quarterback duties fall to Grade 11 Dario Ciccone, who impressed with his work with the junior varsity squad, which went 5-0 during the regular season before flaming out in the first round of the playoffs.
“I think he’s going to surprise some people this year,” said De Lazzari. “He’s a very good distributor of the ball and really knowledgeable, (and) a really intelligent quarterback.”
Among his targets will be Connor Hayek, who averaged 23.39 yards per catch last year, Vasco Repole and Mike Simone. Complementing Eckert at running back are Mateo Carteri, Nathan Nacario and Joel Pielak, who also plays a leadership role at inside linebacker.
The line, both offensive and defensive, will set the stage for success on every down.
“Our line is good. One thing with our school being as small as we are, we don’t have a lot of depth on the line. Our starters are good but we need to hope none of them go down because there isn’t a ton of depth or size behind our starting five.”
Linemen Sajjan Shokar, Joshua Marchese and Eckert are a veteran trio who bring experience and leadership qualities. In that way, the Knights new coach feels the team has a strong enough foundation to make a stand against the likes of Fox, Mouat and Lord Tweedsmuir.
“My philosophy is one week, one game at a time,” said De Lazzari. “We’ll cross each of those bridges as we get there. Obviously every team’s goal is to make the playoffs in the end, but with that singular focus in mind you’ll lose sight of what’s in front of you.
“We’ll focus on each team and prepare for each game week in, week out, and hopefully be an underdog that can do some damage.”
The Knights begin the 2017 season on Saturday, 12:30 p.m. when they host Holy Cross in an exhibition test at STM.
It’s a chance to measure their progress against a strong AA program, and get all the butterflies out of the system, the coach noted.
“Every year I’ve been doing this, when you have that first game and you’re finally allowed to do all the things you’ve been preparing for and execute that against the opponent, the kids really get fired up for that.”
