It was an ugly win for the St. Thomas More Knights on Friday at Percy Perry Stadium, but head coach Bernie Kully hopes it will serve as a wake-up call to his number-1 ranked squad.
"This was our most inconsistent effort of the year," Kully said after the Knights beat the Terry Fox Ravens 21-7 on the strength of two rushing touchdowns from Grade 11 running back Elliot Nelson. "Having watched the film, we have some things to work at in practice this week."
Kully said the coaches have talked to the team about being complacent and how being number 1 in the province has its responsibilities.
"I think it's human instinct not to always give your full effort at all times when you're ranked number 1," said Kully. "But at the same time that it's an honour, it's a bit of a curse because every team you play gives you their best effort. - We have to practise better, and we have to have our players putting their best effort forward."
Nelson's big moment came on a fourthand-inches call in the second half where he broke tacklers and scored from 61 yards out.
"Elliot's a big guy who does have breakaway speed," said Kully. "A lot of people think because he's so big, he's just a fullback but when he gets in the open field, he can pull away."
Nelson would finish with 169 yards on only 12 rushes while also contributing 10 tackles and a sack on defence.
Quarterback Mikey Carney had the other STM rushing touchdown and also passed for 105 yards while providing seven tackles and an interception on defence.
Kyle Madden led the Knights with 12 tackles while twins Alex and Aidan Golding had mirror games of nine tackles and two sacks each. www.twitter.com/AlfieLau
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