If the process is in place, success follows.
The St. Thomas More Knights are building a case to be included in the top-five rankings, following a solid 29-7 victory over the Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers last Friday.
While the Surrey school is not a contender – still winless and having scored just 15 points over three games – the best sign for STM coach Bernie Kully was how the team responded from a disappointing result last week.
Most of the positive signs were reflected in the week of practice preparing for the Panthers.
“I’ll take it, it was a good win,” said Kully. “The week previous our practice was terrible and it showed in the game (a 14-14 tie with Mount Boucherie) but we came back to it, practiced harder and brought that to the game (Friday).”
The start wasn’t ideal, said Kully, but after Tweedsmuir used the rare Statue of Liberty play to pull even 7-7, the Knights demonstrated resilience in the response.
Lucas Dalla-Vecchia put up 101 yards rushing on 21 carries and scoring a pair of touchdowns, including one via the pass. Teammate Luca Bellini scored another major on the ground and added a safety, while Demarius Henderson pulled down a 15-yard pass for the other TD.
Defensively, Bellini registered seven tackles and Nico Cesarei picked up five tackles and three sacks. Also posting strong tackles numbers were Matt Smigel, with seven, and Ben Steele, with six.
“I was happy in terms of the finish,” remarked Kully. “If we played as well as we did in the fourth quarter in the first quarter it would have been better.”
The process that begins at the start of the week is where Kully feels the team has improved, but has room to improve more.
“At the start of the season we didn’t set goals per say in wins or losses but in practice habits and work effort,” he noted. “We’re growing as a team. … I think we still have a lot of ways to improve in continuity on both sides of the ball.”
A true test comes this Friday,7:30 p.m. at Coquitlam Town Centre park where STM battles No. 2-rated Terry Fox. If they can weather the undefeated Ravens, it would provide Trudeau-like momentum with the playoffs just weeks away.
“(Terry Fox’s) whole offence and defence is predicated around one Grade 11, Jeremie Kankolongo,” said Kully. “He’s a very talented player on both sides of the ball and their game is getting him the ball.
“For us to succeed, we need to be right on top of that and have our assignments. It’s a very good test for us.”
